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When you picture a United Nations conference, you probably don’t imagine 600 young people dancing in the aisles. But from the beginning, it was clear that the ICPD Global Youth Forum was not your typical conference. The forum – led by young people, for young people – brought together youth leaders, and representatives from civil society, the private-sector and government, from around the world to learn, deliberate, and make recommendations around five key issue areas: staying healthy, comprehensive education, employment, family and youth rights (including sexuality) and leadership.

The new year is around the corner and while we don’t know everything in store for 2013, one thing is for certain: Technology and social media will continue to play a major role in how people around the world innovate and connect for good around global issues.

Dell is launching the Dell x Crowdrise Match Campaign to benefit Girl Up and two other organizations and will match the first $25,000 of donations collectively raised across these amazing causes.

“So, now we can just walk into the office?”
That’s what Rogath Lewis Mollel of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) said to me as we made our way into the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill. I responded with a surprised “yes.” Rogath was amazed with the amount of access he and the average U.S. citizen have to our elected officials in Washington, DC.

If 2011 showed the desire and determination of citizens to have basic human rights in their societies, then 2012 demonstrated that there is no easy path toward obtaining these rights. Last year brought us the energy of the Arab Spring, with citizens in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Libya all pushing their governments to open up and make human rights and self-determination a priority. This year, with renewed tension in Egypt and a continuing humanitarian and political crisis in Syria, we’ve seen that the road to a society that prioritizes human rights can be long and hard.

Today, the UN and the world are recognizing a group of people who deserve our thanks: volunteers!

Imagine a life where you live on less than two dollars a day. You have been saving for months to afford a trip to the health clinic. With your payment in hand, you walk three hours to get to the nearest clinic, carrying your young children with you. When you finally arrive, you want to be able to receive information and testing for HIV and also pick up contraception to prevent pregnancy, but you’re told that the clinic does not provide both services. You can get tested for HIV, but you’ll have to walk an additional 20 miles to a separate clinic to obtain contraceptives. Unable to cover the distance, you are forced to return home without the contraception that you want and need.

Today, the UN Foundation and more than 1,000 partners across the country are making history by launching #GivingTuesday—a movement to celebrate giving and encourage more, better and smarter giving during the Holiday Season.

Just a few years ago, we all witnessed the birth of a new day that changed the way people think about holiday shopping: Cyber Monday. Today I am writing about something I think can be an even bigger game changer, #GivingTuesday.

VAW takes many forms, including physical, sexual, psychological and economic violence. It crosses cultures, communities and countries—devastating lives, fracturing families and communities, obstructing economic opportunity, preventing generations from reaching their full potential, and stalling national development.