Communities in the Kavango West region of northern Namibia, particularly women and girls, are facing the worst drought in a hundred years. The UN in Namibia under the leadership of the Resident Coordinator has been leading the charge to ensure women and girls are not left behind in tackling the impacts of climate change.
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the various areas where Resident Coordinators and UN teams spearheaded initiatives that moved the dial on some of the most pressing challenges of our time.
Access Kitchen, designed to accommodate the diverse needs of persons with disabilities, trains women to prepare and distribute hot meals to underserved families. The initiative tackles Lebanon’s food insecurity, caused by a socio-economic crisis and exacerbated by conflict, while promoting social inclusion, gender equality, and economic empowerment of women with disabilities.
Northern Ghana is home to 18.2 per cent of the country's population, yet accounts for nearly half of the country’s food-insecure population. The added pressure of hosting asylum seekers has further strained the region’s limited resources. The UN in Ghana, led by the United Nations Resident Coordinator's Office (RCO), is working with the Government of Ghana to address the complex situation and ensure refugees and asylum seekers are not left behind.
In the arid vastness of the Guajira peninsula in northwestern Venezuela lies Paraguaipoa. This is the land of the Wayúu people, one of the country’s 44 indigenous groups that enrich the cultural diversity and heritage of Venezuela. The Wayúu are the largest indigenous group in the nation, known for producing colorful, high-quality textiles that are part of an ancestral women-led practice that connects them with their roots and builds strong community bonds.
During COP29, the UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan stresses the urgent need to rebuild trust in climate action, particularly in climate finance, policymaking, and institutions, to accelerate progress towards a sustainable future.
