Blog
Liberia is a country where low literacy rates and poverty are among the many challenges in the transition from war to stability. About 85 percent of adults are unable to read and/or write and unaware of the important roles girls can play in the development of communities and societies
In case you missed it, United Nations Foundation Chairman and Founder Ted Turner recently interviewed with CNN’s Piers Morgan about his career, life, and commitment to global philanthropy. We were excited to hear Ted talk about his historic gift that created the UN Foundation, our successful Nothing But Nets campaign, and his involvement in the Giving Pledge.
My wife Kate, the mother of our two young boys, understood immediately when I explained to her that I wasn’t going to be home on Mother’s Day. Instead, I was traveling to Africa. She knew that my trip would help bring hope, awareness, and life-saving bed nets to refugees fleeing violence in South Sudan.
Chris Helfrich, director of the United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign, reports on the South Sudanese humanitarian crisis from Nairobi, Kenya.
Today we toured Kakuma Refugee Camp in the northern Kenya desert, home to nearly 95,000 refugees, about one-third of whom are from South Sudan. People there have walked days or weeks, or ridden buses, or flown in airplanes, to escape dangerous conditions in their home countries. They arrive exhausted, most with little or no belongings.
When the electricity goes out, you know how quickly and easily your life is disrupted. You can’t watch television; your food could spoil in the refrigerator; you stumble in the darkness to find a flashlight or candles; the traffic lights might even be out of service in your neighborhood.
Live Below the Line is a great concept, and I’m glad to participate this week to support the Shot@Life Campaign. Think of it this way. Live Below the Line participants spend $7.50 total to eat and drink for five days. My grocery basket on Sunday night was filled with a loaf of inexpensive bread, peanut butter, two bananas, two boxes of pasta and a (half-priced) dented can of peas.
With the headlines announcing Obama’s support for same-sex marriage, it has reminded us that, as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon declared, “the time has come” to make lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights a top priority with the United Nations.
This past week at Mashable Connect, the UN Foundation’s Robb Skinner, 92Y’s Henry Timms and Mashable’s Stacy Green announced the exciting partnership that is bringing the world Rio+Social. This is a first-of-its-kind meeting that will bring social media leaders, UN leaders, pioneers in innovation and global thinkers into the same space to talk about sustainability, the future of world, and how we all can make a difference.
Students these days are great at memorizing dates, timelines, chemistry tables, and grammar. Both the students and our education system have become quite efficient at taking (or administering) tests well. The problem with this examination priority is simple: what we don’t need is a generation of test-takers. The world needs problem solvers.