GLOBALPROGRESS

Connecting people, ideas and resources to help the UN solve global problems.

SPRING 2011

For the last 10 years, I’ve seen thousands ofchildren cry after being pricked by a needlefor a vaccination against measles — a deadlydisease that is preventable by one quick, albeit painful, shot.

I witnessed it again recently in northernNigeria, as the country launched an inte-grated, nationwide measles campaign to protect 31 million children. Every childaged 9 months to 5 years is receiving ameasles vaccine. In addition, an oral poliovaccine is being given to newborns through5-year-olds.

Americans, who haven’t seen wide-spread measles outbreaks in decades, mightbe surprised to learn that measles still killsmore than 450 people each day, and thatchildren are still at risk of paralysis from contracting polio.

But we are making progress. A decade

ago, more than 700,000 children died frommeasles every year, but the mortality rate hasdeclined by 78 percent worldwide and morethan 90 percent in Africa. Strengtheningroutine immunization systems and increas-ing the capacity of trained health workersfrom prior health campaigns have paved theway for the elimination of measles.

Thanks to the leadership of Nigeria’sMinistry of Health, UN agencies, and non-governmental organizations, and the supportof traditional and religious leaders ahead ofand during immunization campaigns,measles and polio have nearly been elimi-nated in Nigeria.

As I witnessed during this and manyother trips, integrated campaigns are one ofthe most cost-effective and efficient ways toeliminate polio and measles. The same children, who are often in the hardest-to-reach places, need to get immunizations foreach disease. The elimination of both canand should move forward together; it wouldbe a missed opportunity not to put a stop tothem both at the same time.

But we can’t do this alone. Fundingshortfalls are threatening recent gains. TheNigerian government is one of the Africancountries leading the way in financing immunization campaigns. However, thesediseases spread like wildfire, and recently

even Nigeria has seen measles and polio outbreaks because not all of the childrenhave been reached. The donor communitymust step up to support the elimination ofmeasles and the eradication of polio as soonas possible so we can build on our gains, notlose them.

These shots, no matter how painfulthey are for those brief seconds, offer a life-time of health and promise for millions ofchildren in Africa and around the world. n

A version of this article first appeared on theU.S. Agency for International Development(USAID) Impact Blog on Feb. 2, 2011.

NBA Star Power Helps Senegal Save Lives

Innovative Partnership Paves Way for a Measles-Free NigeriaAndrea Gay, Executive Director of Children’s Health at the UN Foundation, blogs from the field.

For Andrea Gough, manager of the UN Foundation’s NothingBut Nets, the bottom-line impact of this anti-malaria campaignwas never more vivid than during a door-to-door trek, alongsideUSAID and the local Ministry of Health, to deliver life-savingbed nets through the neighborhoods of Rufisque, a port city inSenegal, West Africa.

Gough visited Senegal in August 2010, traveling with UNFoundation colleagues and a delegation of nearly 20 NBA Legends, players, and coaches who were getting their first lookat what their league has helped make possible through the Nothing But Nets campaign.

“These visits really put the meaning of Nothing But Nets in

perspective for me,” says Gough, who was making her first visitto Africa since joining the UN Foundation staff in 2006. “Wework with our partners and supporters year-round to raise aware-ness and funds for life-saving bed nets. It is amazing to see howa $10 donation from a basketball fan can turn into a bed nethanging inside someone’s home on the other side of the world.Seeing that end result and interacting with the families whoselives will benefit really hit home, and was incredibly energizingfor the hard work ahead.”

Adrianna Logalbo, Gough’s colleague and Nothing But Netsfounding director, agrees. Logalbo’s position has allowed her to

(See Senegal, p.2)Staf

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Photo: Eric Porterfield

Photo: Eric Porterfield

www.unfoundation.org

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In this spring issue, we focus on ways we are helping the United Nations create innovative solutions to big problems. From formingbuilding blocks to combat climate change and secure energy access for all, to streamlining and financing the procurement of life-savinghealth supplies, we are working with the UN and our partners to address the world’s toughest challenges with 21st-century solutions.

To accomplish these goals, we need a strong U.S.-UN partner-ship. Today, the UN is working with the United States in every corner of the world to promote democracy, protect human rights, and deliver humanitarian aid using new and creative approaches. Yet, at a time when the majority of Americans support the UN, thenew Congress is contemplating the biggest reduction in our nation’shistory of U.S. investments in foreign assistance and global partner-ships. In order to have a healthy and well-functioning UN, it is essential for the U.S. to pay its dues to the UN on time and in full.President Obama has crafted a budget for 2012 that would do justthat, ensuring that taxpayer dollars will have the maximum impact in protecting U.S. interests in places like Iraq and Haiti. In fact, theUN pays the same to run its current 16 peacekeeping missions for ayear as the U.S. paysto wage one monthof war in Iraq, making UN peace-keeping a bargain for Americans.

Consider what is at stake if our Congress were to cut this funding, as you flip through the pages of thisnewsletter and readabout the programsunderway to helpwomen and childrenlead healthy lives, to combat climatechange, and to empower the next generation of global leaders. It isclear that the UN is making our world a better place for every one of us.

As a valued UN Foundation supporter, I hope you will help us to amplify the message that a strong UN is critical and renew your support by taking some of the actions we discuss in this newsletter. By raising awareness through your social media channels,making a donation, or signing a petition, together we can confrontold problems with new solutions and ensure that future generations can enjoy many more springs to come.

Sincerely yours,

Timothy E. Wirth

From Our Presidentwork closely with Nothing But Nets partner organizations, andshe has made multiple trips to Africa to introduce their repre-sentatives to the good work their support makes possible.

“I love looking at our work through the eyes of people likethe NBA players who were with us in Senegal,” says Logalbo.“There’s a ‘wow’ factor that’s very gratifying to witness. The tripsare also tremendously valuable for me when I go back to theUnited States to meet with partners and supporters whodon’t have the opportunity to visit Africa. I’m able to discuss thereal-life impact of malaria on African communities, describe justhow community health workers ensure that every family is covered with a net, and talk to donors about how thrilledfamilies are to receive the nets.No matter how many times I’mthere, the experience is never lessthan life-changing.”

Negin Janati, the thirdmember of the Nothing But Netsteam, had the added benefit ofbeing able to contrast the scenesin Senegal with those in themany U.S. cities she visited aspart of the campaign’s 29-city“Buzz Tour.” As the NothingBut Nets tour bus pulled into Atlanta, Chicago, Houston,Seattle, and other cities, Janatihad the chance to speak withthousands of people to encour-age them to join the movementto end malaria.

“Many of the thousands we met on the Buzz Tour werelearning about malaria for the first time,” said Janati, communi-cations officer for Nothing But Nets and the UN Foundation’sglobal health programs. “Our simple message, that malaria killsand a $10 donation can send a life-saving bed net to a family inAfrica, really resonates. Whether they are students or professionalathletes, people feel inspired when they learn that they can havea part in ending this disease. The NBA players who helped usdistribute bed nets in Senegal felt the same way, and were movedto spread the word and continue to help.”

No sooner had Gough, Logalbo, and Janati returned fromtheir trip, their eyes turned to their campaign’s next big push: Acall-to-action to get a net to every family who needed one in the Central African Republic, where the United Nations hadidentified an urgent need. Nothing But Nets teamed up withsinger/actress Mandy Moore and Population Services Interna-tional to deliver 837,000 nets by the end of 2010.

We are thrilled to announce that — thanks to thousands ofsupporters across the country and the world — Nothing But Netsreached the goal in early January, and successfully delivered a life-saving bed net to every family in the Central African Republicin less than six months.

“Being able to step in to help fill this crucial need makes usall proud,” said Logalbo. “The great news is, we are makingprogress. This is a long-term effort, and we intend to continueworking to save lives and bring an end to malaria deaths in Africaonce and for all.” n

(Senegal, continued from p.1)

UN Foundation Chairman, Ted Turner, and President, Senator Timothy E. Wirth

To learn more, visit www.unfoundation.org

Andrea Gough in Senegal duringanti-malaria bed net distribution.

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The UN Foundation has teamed up with theUnited Methodist Church and U.S. Luther-ans to engage their congregations in themovement to end malaria. For nearly fiveyears, the UN Foundation has been workingwith faith leaders like Methodist BishopThomas Bickerton to connect with groupsacross the country to help their peers acrossthe globe.

With support from the UN Founda-tion, the United Methodist Churchlaunched Imagine No Malaria, a campaignthat aims to raise $75 million, and LutheranWorld Relief and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod will soon launch theLutheran Malaria Initiative to raise $45 million for the prevention and treatment ofmalaria.

Malaria takes the life of a child every 45seconds — an unacceptable rate for a diseasethat is both preventable and treatable. TheUN Foundation’s faith-based partners arebringing their combined congregations ofmore than 14 million people together toraise funds and awareness to save lives bycombating malaria in Africa. The UNFoundation has provided grants as well astechnical assistance to both Imagine NoMalaria and the Lutheran Malaria Initiativeto support the campaigns and develop theirprograms.

A founding partner of the UN Founda-tion’s Nothing But Nets campaign, the UnitedMethodist Church has raised more than $15million for malaria prevention and treatmentwith its Imagine No Malaria campaign. Thechurch, in partnership with Nothing ButNets, recently helped distribute 3 millionlong-lasting, insecticide-treated bed nets tofamilies in Sierra Leone, where malaria is aleading cause of death. Working in tandemwith the Ministry of Health, this effort contributed to the goal of reaching everyfamily in the country.

Many church leaders in Africa are already working in their communities tohelp deliver life-saving medicines and healthtreatments. The UN Foundation is workingwith our faith-based partners to build on thisfoundation to deliver more nets whilestrengthening access to health care in Africa.

The Lutheran Malaria Initiative willlaunch this year and provide similar oppor-tunities for Lutherans throughout the U.S.to get involved. Like the United Methodist’scampaign, Lutheran malaria programs servepeople in the most remote parts of Africa,where government health care is often unavailable. To learn more about how theUN Foundation partners with faith-based organizations to help the UN solve globalproblems, visit www.unfoundation.org. n

Keeping the Faith While Spreading the Nets

Melinda Gates recently stated, “There is onemore proven way to save a huge number oflives, and that is giving mothers and fathersthe ability to decide how many children theywill have, and when they will have them.My ability to plan my family is something Itook for granted as a woman living in theUnited States.” More than 215 millionwomen around the globe want to have control over how many children they haveand when they have them, but cannot because they lack access to reproductivehealth and family planning services.

The world’s nations agreed to addressthese issues and ensure universal access tofamily planning and reproductive healthservices at the 1994 International Confer-ence on Population and Development inCairo. For these goals to be fulfilled and forthe world to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals, every one of thesewomen needs access to high-quality interna-tional reproductive health and family planning.

The proof is clear. When women haveaccess to voluntary family planning, they aremore empowered, their health and that of

their families improves, economic growth increases, global poverty decreases, politicalsecurity is enhanced, and the environment isprotected. Fulfilling the unmet need forfamily planning would reduce maternalmortality by 32 percent. Universal access isachievable if donor governments, includingthe U.S., contribute their share of funding.

In recent years, many have fallen short oftheir commitments.

U.S. leadership is key to ensuring thatwomen around the world have the opportu-nities and tools to plan their families. Thatis why the UN Foundation is leading theStrengthening U.S. Leadership on Interna-tional Reproductive Health and FamilyPlanning Initiative. By working with partners and acting as a bridge between thefunding community, policymakers, andnongovernmental organizations, the UNFoundation will help bolster U.S. leadershipon international reproductive health andfamily planning and connect the U.S. withthe UN on these issues.

The Strengthening U.S. Leadership onInternational Reproductive Health and Family Planning Initiative is a collaborativeeffort of the UN Foundation, the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation, the William andFlora Hewlett Foundation, the David andLucile Packard Foundation, the SummitFoundation, the Wallace Global Fund, andan anonymous donor. For more information,contact reprohealth@unfoundation.org. n

Putting Family Planning Decisions in Women’s Hands

A young boy stands with a net near a SierraLeone home. Malaria is a leading cause ofdeath in his country.

More than 215 million women around the globewant to have control over how many childrenthey have and when they have them, but cannotbecause they lack access to services.

Photo: UN Photo Library

“We can reach our hands acrossthe ocean to Africa and savelives by coming together to eliminate deaths from malaria.”

Bishop Thomas Bickerton

Photo: UMC

www.unfoundation.org

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The mHealth Alliance (mHA) received atwo-year, $1 million donation fromHewlett-Packard Co. (HP) to improvehealth care and health systems around theglobe using mobile technology. This grantwill support the mHA’s core activities, including Health UnBound, or HUB, anonline meeting place for those who careabout transforming health systems to improve health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. HUB will also provide the data and case studies needed toinspire ongoing innovation and promote thenational scalability of existing mHealth pilotprojects.

The donation will also help the mHA-led Maternal-newborn mHealth Initiative,which seeks to reduce maternal and newbornmortality through the power of modern information and communications technolo-gies, especially mobile.

Launched in 2009 by the UN Founda-tion, the Rockefeller Foundation, and theVodafone Foundation, the mHA advances“mHealth,” or the use of mobile devices todeliver quality health care in some of themost remote areas in the world, revolution-izing the way health information is delivered,accessed, and used. Particularly in developingcountries where disease burdens are disproportionately high, innovative mHealth

projects promise to transform health out-comes by collecting and analyzing a remotepatient’s health data in real time, diagnosingpatients remotely, and advancing awareness,education, and research.

For example, with a mobile phone in aremote village, a health care worker can remotely diagnose disease, track outbreaks,and manage health data, even if the villagehas little or no health infrastructure. A simple text message can remind a patient totake medicine or come in for a checkup.mHealth can also track the progress of vaccination campaigns and measure drugsupplies to avoid running out.

With more than 5 billion mobile subscribers worldwide, mobile networks anddevices are almost everywhere, providing

viable pathways for delivering critical infor-mation and supporting women andproviders’ needs in a timely and efficientmanner. From aiding front-line health careworkers to diagnose signs and symptoms ofcomplications, to facilitating cost coverageand transportation to health care facilities,mHealth solutions have the potential to dramatically increase access to proper healthcare and save the lives of mothers and newborns.

“We feel a strong obligation to globalhealth from both a business and social impact perspective and are committed tohelping to improve lives and change thehealth care equation for people around theworld with the mHealth Alliance,” said GabiZedlmayer, vice president of global social innovation at HP.

In 2011, the mHA will continue to expand its thought leadership role throughcutting-edge research on health impacts,business models, the economics of mHealth,maternal health, and evaluation. The mHAwill also convene the key mHealth players attwo premier annual events: the inauguralGSMA-mHA Mobile Health Summit inCape Town in June 2011 and the third-annual mHealth Summit in Washington,DC, in December 2011. n

Hewlett Packard Steps Up to Promote Apps for Health

Cooking Shouldn’t KillCooking shouldn’t kill. That’s why MarthaStewart highlighted the Global Alliance forClean Cookstoves on the Dec. 22 episode of The Martha Stewart Show. The show’sviewers were informed about the dangersposed by exposure to smoke from traditionalcookstoves and were encouraged to get engaged in the clean cookstoves movement.

Every year, 1.9 million people die fromexposure to smoke from traditional cook-stoves and open fires. Cookstove smokecontributes to a range of chronic illnessesand acute health impacts, such as early child-hood pneumonia, emphysema, cataracts,lung cancer, bronchitis, cardiovascular disease, and low birth weight. The WorldHealth Organization estimates harmfulcookstove smoke to be the fourth worst over-all health risk factor in developing countries.

The Global Alliance for Clean Cook-stoves — a partnership of governments, non-profit organizations, UN agencies, and theprivate sector, led by the UN Foundation —is working to create a thriving global marketfor clean and efficient household cooking solutions. Leslie Cordes, interim executive

director of the Alliance, said, “We were delighted to have the chance to educate theAmerican public about the unique role cleancookstoves can play in saving lives; almost 2 million people a year die from diseases associated with exposure to cookstovesmoke. Martha Stewart, with her millionsof loyal viewers, provided us with an invalu-able opportunity to raise awareness aboutthis little-known global health issue.”

The Alliance is also reaching out tothose already involved in the cookstoves sector and was featured at the recent Part-nership for Clean Indoor Air Forum inLima, Peru. At the forum, more than 400stove manufacturers and project developersfrom around the world gathered to discussaspects of the clean cookstoves industry essential to ensuring the global productionof clean, efficient, and safe cookstoves andthe ways in which the sector can bring improved cookstoves to scale.

For more information on the Allianceand its upcoming activities, please visit ourwebsite at www.cleancookstoves.org. n

Martha Stewart, U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency Administrator Lisa Jackson, and AaronSherinian, the UN Foundation’s Executive Director of Public Affairs, on The MarthaStewart Show.

Cell phone technology is helping people accesshealth information around the globe.

Photo: Datadyne

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Over the past several years, a comprehensiveglobal climate agreement has drifted out of political reach. Even as thermometers rise, theworld’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters, the United States and China, have balked atemission caps.

Yet national and state governments aroundthe world are showing a way forward on climate, moving toward a new economy char-acterized by the smarter use of energy and thetechnological innovations needed to make cleanenergy affordable.

The UN Foundation has advocated for justsuch a building block strategy since 2009, promoting steps that nations can take in theirown economic self-interest that will also reducetheir harmful emissions. At the December UNclimate talks in Cancún, much of the worldcommunity moved toward this approach.

The Cancún Agreements encouraged theworld to act on climate change through a number of separate measures on deforestation,technology cooperation, adaptation, and finance, independent of a global agreement.Similar building opportunities exist on energyefficiency, renewable energy, agriculture, landuse, and the reduction of methane, refrigerationgases, black carbon, and other powerful warm-ing agents.

When world leaders gather in Rio deJaneiro next year to discuss sustainable develop-ment, the theme will be the green economy, afield in which the U.S. cannot afford to lag.

China is already setting the pace on energy efficiency — improving 20 percent over thepast five years with a commitment to sustainand expand those gains — and on renewableenergy, in which China’s leaders reportedly planto invest $738 billion over the next decade.

China is far from alone. The other BASICcountries (Brazil, South Africa, and India),along with Japan, Korea, and the EuropeanUnion, have taken impressive steps in the samedirection. In the U.S., states have led even asCongress has failed to act. For example, California voters overwhelmingly rejected anoil industry attempt to overturn the state’scomprehensive global warming law in last November’s election, paving the way for similarinitiatives in other states.

To invest in the momentum of a green andrenewable energy economy, the UN GeneralAssembly has designated 2012 as the Interna-tional Year of Sustainable Energy for All. UN-Energy, supported by the UN Foundation, willlead a Global Campaign for Universal EnergyAccess built around national actions, workingtoward the overarching goal of achieving universal energy access by 2030.

The core of the building block strategy isto accomplish what we can today and use thatas a base to build toward more difficult goalstomorrow. This will engender trust among nations and confidence that the transition to alow-carbon economy is both possible and beneficial. n

The UN Foundation’s Unite for Girls Tourcame to Washington, DC, on Jan. 15 to inspire hundreds of local teens to show theworld that they care about the health, education, and future of girls in developingcountries.

Noted fashion photographer NigelBarker, Grammy-winning recording artistEstelle, members of the Washington MysticsWNBA basketball team, and Miss TeenMaryland, Kirsten Nicholson, helped drawyouth to the event at the Boys & Girls Clubin the city’s Anacostia neighborhood.

“As the father of a young daughter andson, I can attest to the undeniable power andspirit of today’s youth,” said Barker. “Thisprogram will give a girl in DC the opportu-nity to help a girl in Malawi buy school supplies.”

Encouraging American girls to giveback, the Girl Up campaign, launched bythe UN Foundation last summer, is raisingawareness about the 600 million adolescentgirls living in developing countries who lack

access to basicneeds such as edu-cation and healthcare.

Girls attend-ing the event hadthe opportunity totravel through aninteractive display,passport in hand,to learn about girlsjust like them allaround the world.During the experi-ence, they discov-ered how they can help make the futurebrighter for their counterparts in developingcountries. The Unite for Girls Tour has visited metropolitan areas across the nationand will continue throughout this year.

For millions of girls, it is a struggle toget access to basic things like health, educa-tion, and safety. A global campaign “forgirls, by girls” can change that. By helping

just one girl, we make a positive impact on a community, even a nation.

Funds raised through Girl Upwill support UN programs that help

the hardest-to-reach girls in countries such asEthiopia, Guatemala, Liberia, and Malawi.Campaign supporters are encouraged to givea “High Five” to girls in developing countries— to take five minutes to learn about the issues facing girls and to donate $5 or moreto provide girls with basic needs such as access to school supplies, clean water, healthservices, safety from violence, and more. n

Girl Up Teen Advisors Darya Pishevar and Isabella Solimeneleading the High Five Banner atthe Unite for Girls Washington, DC Pep Rally.

Girl Up Dazzles Washington, Empowers Teens

A New Strategy for Climate Change

UN Foundation EffortsCombat Climate ChangeEnergy is essential to economic development, but the world’s depend-ence on coal and oil is harmful to public health and the environment. The UNFoundation’s Climate & Energy Teamworks with the UN to move the world toward a safer, cleaner, more equitable,and climate-friendly energy futurethrough programs including the following:

• The Energy Future Coalition buildsbridges between business, labor,and environmental groups willing to explore broad-based and non-partisan solutions. By promotingimprovements in energy efficiencyand the greater use of solar, wind,and biofuels, the Coalition aims toease the transition to a new energyeconomy.

• The “25 x ‘25” initiative is a rallying cry for renewable energyand a call for America to get 25 percent of its energy from renew-able resources such as wind, solar,and biofuels by 2025.

• The Global Alliance for CleanCookstoves is a more than $60 million public-private partnership to save lives, improve livelihoods,empower women, and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions.

www.unfoundation.org

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Breaking Logjams and Red Tape to Save LivesThe development community unanimouslyagrees that the efficiency of development aidis a priority. Yet every year, thousands ofchildren around the world die from easilypreventable diseases, such as malaria, polio,and measles, because of major inefficienciesin procuring health supplies and disbursinggrants.

These inefficiencies result in ware-houses and clinics having either not enoughor a surplus of life-saving health supplies,such as vaccines and anti-malaria bed nets.This leads to untreated patients and expireddrugs.

To help solve this problem, the UNFoundation, with help from Dalberg GlobalDevelopment Advisors and funding fromthe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, hasworked with partners to develop and manage the Pledge Guarantee for Health(PGH), a new financing mechanism to accelerate donor funds and streamline theprocurement of life-saving health supplies.

The process is new, but the goal of thePGH is timeless: to reduce childhooddeaths from easily preventable diseases more quickly and effectively. The PGHstreamlines the flow of aid dollars and reduces inefficiencies and premiums thatgovernments pay on health commoditiesdue to bottlenecks in the process for distributing grants.

With support from the PGH, a commercial bank issues a letter of credit to amanufacturer, who then provides health

supplies such as vaccines, anti-malaria bednets, or reproductive health commodities.The bank recoups its capital when the donordisburses its funding.

Recently, the PGH completed its firsttransaction: a $4.8 million deal to provideanti-malaria bed nets to 1.6 million peoplein Zambia. The bed nets arrived at the end of December, three months ahead of schedule and before the peak of the potentially deadly rainy season.

The UN Foundation worked with thegovernment of Zambia, the World Bank,UNICEF, Stanbic Bank Zambia, the AfricanLeaders Malaria Alliance, and the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy forMalaria on this deal. In Zambia, once the

guarantee was issued, it took the govern-ment of Zambia and UNICEF workers lessthan three weeks to deliver the bed nets tothe district level. Preliminary estimates suggest that accelerating this procurementpotentially averted tens of thousands ofmalaria cases, saving the lives of thousandsof children in Zambia, who are more at riskof catching malaria during the rainy season.

This new financing model acceleratesrecent progress in the fight against malariain Zambia. From 2006 to 2008, the percentage of Zambian households owningat least one anti-malaria bed net increasedfrom 38 to 64 percent.

“While Zambia has made tremendousprogress in malaria prevention in recentyears, the recent resurgence reported by theWorld Health Organization highlights theneed to remain vigilant and ensure that netsare not only financed, but arrive on time,”said Ray Chambers, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria. “Thesuccess of this innovative deal provides uswith an important new tool in the fight toend deaths from malaria by 2015.”

Through PGH transactions, health supplies are procured up to eight monthsfaster and commodity premiums are reducedas much as 83 percent. With the success ofthe PGH and other mechanisms aiming tomake aid more efficient, there is reason tobelieve that more innovations of these types in the international development community are possible. n

UN Brief: Every Woman Every ChildOne of the UN Foundation’s priorities in2011 will be continued support for theGlobal Strategy for Women’s and Children’sHealth. The UN Foundation has partneredwith the UN to drive progress on this signa-ture initiative of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Every Woman Every Child is a globaleffort that supports the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health. This initiative mobilizes resources and catalyzespublic-private partnerships, recognizing thatbold, coordinated action is needed to improve the health of hundreds of millionsof women and children around the world,which in turn improves the lives of all people. By facilitating outreach among civilsociety, academia, the private sector, andgovernments, the UN Foundation was ableto secure vital pledges and focus interna-

tional attention on preventing the deaths ofmillions of women, newborns, and children.

Over the next five years, resources willbe utilized to enhance financing, strengthenpolicy, and improve service delivery for themost vulnerable women and children. Keyoutcomes of the Every Woman Every Childeffort will include saving 16 million lives by2015, preventing 33 million unwanted pregnancies, protecting 120 million childrenfrom pneumonia and 88 million childrenfrom stunting, advancing the control ofdeadly diseases such as malaria andHIV/AIDS, and ensuring access to qualityfacilities and skilled health workers.

The UN Foundation will continue tosupport this initiative to help prevent thedeaths of millions of women, newborns, andchildren. For more information, please visitwww.everywomaneverychild.org. n

Family receives anti-malaria bed net in Zambia.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at thelaunch of the Global Strategy for Women’sand Children’s Health.

Photo: Jum

be Ngoma, World Bank, Lusaka

Photo: UN Photo/Mark Garten

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On Feb. 5, more than 700 students from 41New York-area schools had the unique opportunity to debate and propose solutionsto pressing international issues at the GlobalClassrooms® New York City Model UN Conference. Held at the City College ofNew York, the event brought together students from area schools who came prepared to tackle some of the world’s mostpressing global concerns.

The day started with welcome addressesfrom Ambassador Joseph H. Melrose of theU.S. Mission to the UN, City CollegeProvost Dr. Juan Carlos Mercado, and EdElmendorf, executive director of the UnitedNations Association of the United States ofAmerica (UNA-USA). Ambassador Melrosestressed the significance of what the studentswere there to accomplish — mobilizing support for international cooperation.

Model UN requires students to masterthe art of consensus building while designingand drafting resolutions to some of theworld’s most complex matters. Representing

viewpoints from among the 192 UN member-states, students improve key literacyskills while gaining awareness of ideas andtrends that most deeply affect their genera-tion. The topics for discussion on Feb. 5 included biofuels, malaria and infectious diseases, malnutrition, the rights of indigenous people, and the situation inAfghanistan.

Sharon Shambourger of Life SciencesSecondary School in Manhattan has been aModel UN advisor for seven years and has attended more than a dozen GlobalClassrooms® conferences in that time. Sham-bourger has “watched students mature fromrather school/neighborhood-oriented, totruly global citizens. They welcome others’opinions, are surprised by what they finddoing research on a given country, and oftenleave high school with a desire to study foreign affairs in college. Model UN students are searching for answers to tomorrow’s problems.”

Founded more than a decade ago,

Global Classrooms® has developed the onlycomprehensive program of study and instruction based on Model UN. The program brings global issues education andthe Model UN experience to public schoolsacross the U.S. and a diverse array of schoolsaround the world. For more information,please visit www.globalclassrooms.org. n

On Jan. 24, Michelle Bachelet, executivedirector of UN Women, the agency promoting women’s rights and full participation in global affairs, laid out a100-day action plan to encourage inter-national gender equality. The plan shedslight on issues that force women to shoulder more than their fair share of theworld’s challenges and recognizes the capacity they have to make progress onglobal issues.

The plan envisions improvingwomen’s access to leadership in their communities and countries, ending violence against women, supportingwomen’s roles in resolving conflict andpromoting peace, bolstering economicopportunities for women, and placinggender equality high on the agenda of na-tional and local planning and budgeting.

“I am determined that UN Womenwill be a catalyst for change, offering newenergy, drawing on longstanding ideasand values, and bringing together menand women from different countries, societies, and communities in a shared endeavor,” Bachelet said.

UN Women — formally known asthe UN Entity for Gender Equality andthe Empowerment of Women — was established by the General Assembly in

July 2010 in an effort to streamline theUN system to better address the needs ofwomen and girls. The four UN agenciesand offices that merged to form UNWomen include: the UN DevelopmentFund for Women, the Division for theAdvancement of Women, the Office ofthe Special Adviser on Gender Issues, and the UN International Research and

Training Institute for the Advancement ofWomen.

Bachelet said UN Women will focuson five core principles: enhancing imple-mentation of international accords by national partners, backing intergovern-mental processes to strengthen the globalframework on gender equality, advocatinggender equality and women’s empower-ment, promoting coherence with the UNon women’s issues, and acting as a globalbroker of knowledge and experience.

The new agency, which will receive aboost in funding, formally launched onFeb. 24 during the 55th session of theCommission on the Status of Women, theglobal policymaking body dedicated exclusively to gender equality and the advancement of women. UN FoundationChairman and business leader Ted Turnerspoke at the launch. He was joined byhost Juju Chang of ABC News and ahandful of other speakers, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, HRHPrincess Cristina of Spain, and activistand actress Geena Davis. Bachelet alsoco-hosted a high-level briefing to reaffirmthe UN’s commitment and actions to advancing the rights of adolescent girls, sothat they can enjoy an empowered presentand a prosperous future. n

A female UN peacekeeper joins Kathy Calvin,CEO of the UN Foundation, left, and MichelleBachelet, executive director of UN Women andformer president of Chile, after visiting a PeaceHut, a forum for community justice, in ruralLiberia. Bachelet and Calvin commemoratedthe 100th anniversary of InternationalWomen’s Day in Liberia by learning firsthandfrom women about the challenges they face.

Life Sciences Secondary School students win“Best Delegation” for the General AssemblyCommittee at the Global Classrooms®, NewYork City Model UN Conference.

Photo: Stuart Ramson/Insider Images for the UNF

Photo: Milan Stanic

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As natural disasters and civil conflicts increase worldwide, so does theneed for new and lower-cost technologies that help people navigatethese crises. Today there are more than 5.3 billion cell phone subscriptions globally, with the fastest-growing mobile markets inemerging economies. Even in places where there are no paved roadsor running water, mobile networks are connecting the unconnected.

Mobile Internet use is also on the increase, fueling the rapidgrowth of web-based social networking. If Facebook were a country,it would be the third most-populous nation in the world, with morethan 600 million regular users.

New technologies and innovative uses of existing technologiesare improving disaster preparedness, prevention, and response. TheUN Foundation has partnered with the Vodafone Foundation, theUN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and theHarvard Humanitarian Initiative to explore how technological innovation can reshape information-sharing in humanitarian emergencies.

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010killed more than 200,000 people, leveled many government and UNoffices, and destroyed valuable information including maps and census data. The earthquake also revealed online and mobile technologies’ potential to support the relief effort.

After the earthquake, concerned citizens and survivors used collaborative technologies to provide important information, i.e.,they “crowdsourced.” They posted details about missing persons viaGoogle’s PeopleFinder; uploaded the location and needs of survivors,some still trapped in rubble, via the online mapping tool Ushahidi;and helped map the Haitian capital through the Sahana Foundation’s

OpenStreetMap project, to name a few examples.Technology is not a solution to all problems, but in the right

conditions, it can enable powerful development and disaster reliefwork. The rise of text messaging and web-based services creates anopportunity for people affected by humanitarian crises to participateactively in development and disaster relief work — innovation harnessed to serve those who stand to benefit most from it. n

Disaster Relief 2.0

Above: Locals walk the shattered streets of Haiti. Right: In Port-au-Prince, a new antenna and vital satellite equipment are putinto place by a telecommunications expert.

Photo: WFP/Dane Novarlic

Photo: UN Photo/Logan Abassi