Kika stands outside her door and waves at her neighbours before opening the blue door that leads to her living room. At the far end is a solar-powered television set neatly surrounded by a group of plastic seats. Since her new house was completed nearly a year ago, Kika's life has changed for the better.
With a population of just 18 million people, Malawi is a fairly small country. It is among the poorest countries in the world. In the bottom 10 % of the Human Development Index. And yet it has much to give the world.
You wouldn’t guess it by looking at the building from the outside. Just a small, standard office building. Nothing remarkable. But inside the meeting rooms of migrant shelters in northern Brazil, dreams are being hatched.
We are facing a devastating pandemic, new heights of global heating, new lows of ecological degradation and new setbacks in our work towards global goals for more equitable, inclusive and sustainable development.
For the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, the UN’s call to “Orange the World” comes with the rallying cry to “Fund, Respond, Prevent and Collect” – bridge the funding gaps, ensure essential services for survivors of violence, focus on prevention and collect the data that we need to adapt and improve life-saving services for women and girls. This year we are handing over the mic to them.
Together with governments and partners, UN country teams worldwide are working to help protect the safety and security of communities, particularly those facing humanitarian crisis. Teams are stepping up their effort to obtain more essential lifesaving supplies and shelter for those most at-risk. We highlight some of the coordinated efforts.
The United Nations agencies, funds and programmes in Argentina were immediately deployed at the onset of COVID-19 as the UN recognized the health, economic and social implications this virus would have in the country.
