In the early 1990s Uzbekistan, the double landlocked country in Central Asia, had just emerged as an independent state from the Soviet Union. With a fragile economy and developing industrial sector, these were challenging times for the newly autonomous country. Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, remembers this period well, having spent the early days of his career working for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in the Regional Office for Central Asia. In Uzbekistan he witnessed first-hand the challenges in expanding healthcare and other essential services.
In Benin, the financial situation of vulnerable persons further deteriorated with the COVID-19 crisis, which forced many to discontinue their businesses and revealed an urgent need for governments to invest in resilience-building programmes using digital solutions—which help ensure the continuity of local revenue-generating activities.
The Ukraine crisis may pose a threat to food security and living standards in Africa, but it could also provide incentives to boost intra-African trade. Those were the key messages from Hanan Morsy, Deputy Executive Secretary and Chief Economist at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), during a recent online presentation to over 100 UN officials from all over the continent. Many UN Resident Coordinators chimed in with observations from the field.
The COVID-19 infodemic has disrupted several routine vaccination campaigns across the world. In Togo, to tackle this challenge, health authorities make significant education and communication efforts to preserve immunization gains and rebuild people's confidence in life-saving vaccines such as the polio vaccine.
Our UN teams are on the ground, working with governments and key stakeholders to bolster countries’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, helping ensure a smooth recovery. They tackle a range of multi-faceted priorities and key initiatives on a daily basis—from climate action to gender equality and food security—and utilize innovative approaches to problem-solving to better serve communities. Below are some highlights of their work this month.
Today, on International Mother Language Day, we shine a light on an initiative that seeks to keep the Nasa Yuwe language alive at a time when emerging information and communication technologies (ICT) are transforming the very ways we interact with one another.
Having commenced my role as UN Resident Coordinator in China almost one year ago, it is a privilege to lead the United Nations in China in this new year and at this auspicious moment as the Games return to Beijing.
