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Our UN teams are on the ground in 162 countries and territories, coordinating joint programmes and tackling a range of priorities and initiatives — from climate action and food security to gender equality and safety of civilians.

UN teams on the ground have been working with local and national partners to strengthen food security, support agricultural adaption and take small but significant steps to keep the commitments to a food systems transformation alive. 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday that he deeply regrets Russia’s decision to terminate the Black Sea Initiative, in effect ending a “lifeline” for hundreds of millions worldwide facing hunger and spiralling food costs. 

The High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the HLPF, takes place at the mid-point in pursuit of the 2030 Agenda and focuses on ways to accelerate the global recovery.

Our UN teams are on the ground in 162 countries and territories, coordinating joint programmes and tackling a range of priorities and initiatives — from climate action and food security to gender equality and safety of civilians.

UNICEF, in partnership with UN-Habitat, began joint rehabilitation works in several schools to provide children a safe environment to learn. Othayma’s school in Nashabieh town, rural Damascus, was one of them.

Djibouti seldom garners the kind of international attention usually given to its neighbors- Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. Yet the country’s experience living through cycles of drought and food insecurity offers immense lessons to the rest of the world. 

Since 2019, five consecutive failed rainy seasons across the Horn of Africa have created a devastating drought that has affected millions of people in the region. Water sources have dried up, crops and livestock have been decimated, and people’s capacities to support themselves have been eroded. Compounding the hardship, food prices have rocketed, partly as a result of the war in Ukraine, making it too expensive for most refugees and local communities to afford even basics.

Coupled with other extreme weather events, the ongoing drought caused widespread hunger and pushed thousands into near famine-like conditions. In the south of the country, where the land is arid and households more dependent on rain-fed agriculture, the issue of malnutrition is particularly acute. Crops are not only suffering from a lack of water, but have also been damaged by high winds and tiomena – sandstorms - which blow away the fertile topsoil. In these conditions, communities are struggling to grow key staples, including corn.