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Around this time of year, a lot of people are already struggling to keep some of the resolutions they made just a few days earlier.

But some resolutions are too important to break. Fifteen years ago, Ted Turner made a bold commitment to donate $1 billion to help the United Nations tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges. In the time since, his donation — and the additional support and the resolution of partners like you — have helped change countless lives through the work of the UN Foundation.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies recently created a video featuring Malawi’s first female president, Joyce Banda, talking about the importance of women’s health and empowerment.

Very soon, President Obama will be joined by new Cabinet members, including a new Secretary of State. A new session of Congress also includes new faces, with more than 90 new members.

Malala Yousafzai made it to TIME Magazine’s shortlist for Person of the Year, ultimately coming in today as the runner-up.

Today the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA) is excited to announce the national launch of “Aponjon”, a mobile health service that delivers stage-based, vital health information to new and expectant mothers via their mobile phones in Bangladesh.

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.