The Lid is On

$4.3 trillion: that’s the estimated cost of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a blueprint for a fairer future, covering all of the big issues facing the world, from eradicating poverty and hunger, to building societies free from fear and violence, and taking urgent action on climate change.

To help bridge that funding gap, UN chief António Guterres set up the Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance (GISD) in 2019, made up of prominent business leaders from across the world.

Californian teenager Kale Ilac’s dream is to become a diplomat. The 16-year-old, who is battling cancer, is hopefully on the way, thanks to the Make-a-Wish Foundation, who arranged for Kale and his family to take a special tour of the UN in January, meeting senior diplomats and UN officials.

UN News publishes stories in 10 languages, with the aim of ensuring that as many people as possible understand the impact of the United Nations, and in order to provide a reliable news source on a variety of platforms.

In our first Lid Is On of 2023, we take a trip to Geneva, to meet our Palais des Nations correspondent Daniel Johnson, who gives us a virtual visit of the venerable building and its surroundings, and looks back at some of his favourite moments from 2022, in particular the interview that earned him a hug (a rare occurrence for journalists)!

Music: Within the Earth, Ketsa

For the last Lid Is On of the year, Conor Lennon invited some of his colleagues for a festive episode, to find out a bit more about them (discovering that one has even sung at Carnegie Hall), and how they wade through reports, studies and data, to tease out stories that demonstrate the real difference the UN makes to people’s lives every day.

This is the fifth and final episode of Seeking Peace, a podcast from the Department of Peace Operations.

In this episode, Melanne Verveer from Georgetown University’s Institute for Women Peace and Security, examines the challenges and complex realities that women uniformed peacekeepers face.

We will hear from General Maureen O’Brien, who serves as the Deputy Chief of Military affairs at the UN, about her pioneering career.

Today, we bring you the fourth episode of Seeking Peace, a podcast from the UN Department of Peace Operations.

Melanne Verveer from Georgetown University’s Institute for Women Peace and Security, highlights the extraordinary women whose work defies expectations of traditional gender roles in peacekeeping.

In Episode 3 of Seeking Peace, a podcast from the UN Department of Peace Operations, Melanne Verveer from Georgetown University’s Institute for Women Peace and Security, focuses on women’s role in bringing about peace through politics.

In Episode 2 of Seeking Peace, a podcast from the Department of Peace Operations, Melanne Verveer from Georgetown University’s Institute for Women Peace and Security explores women’s roles in peace negotiations and the implementation of peace agreements.

The interviewees in this episode are the UN Assistant Secretary General for Africa, Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Maïga Aziza from Mali, the first-ever Member of Parliament to represent Timbuktu, and South Sudanese activist Alokiir Malual, about women’s involvement in peace negotiations, and the implementation of peace agreements.