Economic Development

Agnes-Josephine Kenderman at home with her mother in Liberia.
Helen Mayelle/Spotlight Initiative Liberia

A catering programme with baked-in prospects for vulnerable Liberian girls

5 June 2022
Africa

Agnes-Josephine Kenderman, a Liberian teenage mother, is benefiting from a UN-backed initiative to empower young vulnerable girls, which includes training to help her make and sell pastries and other products.

The World Food Programme is providing food assistance for people fleeing the conflict inside Ukraine and in neighbouring countries.
© WFP/Viktor Pesenti

Ukraine: ‘Perfect storm’ threatens economic devastation in developing world

1 June 2022
Europe

Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine is causing immense suffering and devastation there, but also creating a “perfect storm” which could devastate the economies of “many developing countries”, the UN chief warned on Wednesday.

Secretary-General António Guterres (right) visits Gubio Internally Displaced People’s Camp in Borno State, Nigeria.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

African nations leading the way on ‘food systems transformation’: Guterres 

26 May 2022
Africa

African countries are at the vanguard of a vital transformation of food systems to simultaneously address food security, nutrition, social and environmental protection – all while boosting resilience – said the UN chief on Thursday. 

Children at Abu Shouk camp for internally displaced persons in North Darfur, Sudan. (file)
UN Photo/Albert González Farran

Africa provides a ‘home for hope’, despite new challenges: Guterres

24 May 2022
Africa

On Africa Day, the world celebrates the diverse and dynamic continent’s “enormous promise and potential”, the UN chief said in an upbeat message to mark the day on Wednesday.

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Jane Mohammed meets with Indonesian youth leaders on climate in Jakarta, Indonesia on May 22, 2022.
Putra Djohan/UN Indonesia

‘We Have to Make Peace with Nature’: UN Deputy Chief meets inspiring young climate leaders in Indonesia

23 May 2022
Asia Pacific

A portable solar generator in a black case, and an eggplant grown in organic soil, were among the diverse items that a group of young climate leaders in Jakarta shared with the UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed this weekend, embodying their own personal inspiration, and efforts to advance the fight against climate change.

Young people in Syria attend a life skills and employability training session.
© UNICEF

Middle East and North Africa: addressing highest rates of youth unemployment in the world

23 May 2022

More than 33 million new jobs need to be created by 2030 in the Middle East and North Africa region by 2030, if the world’s largest unemployment hot spot is to be substantially improved, four United Nations agencies said on Monday.

A woman works in an electronics factory in Cikarang, Indonesia.
© ILO/Asrian Mirza

Global jobs market recovery ‘has gone into reverse’, warns UN labour agency

23 May 2022
Global

The recovery of the global jobs market is going into reverse, the UN labour agency, ILO, said on Monday, blaming COVID-19 and “other multiple crises” that have increased inequalities within and between countries. 

Ilarion Celestin tends his beehives in Bonbon, Haiti.
UN Haiti/Daniel Dickinson

First Person: Sweet taste of modern beekeeping

20 May 2022
Americas

Beekeepers in the southern Haitian commune of Bonbon are creating a buzz around honey in an area which is recovering from an earthquake in 2021.

A mother giving sorghum porridge to her children. A growing number of children in South Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Warrap have only one meal per day.
FAO/Stefanie Glinski

Nations must ‘act together, urgently and with solidarity’ to end crisis of food insecurity

18 May 2022
Global

Hunger levels around the world are at “a new high”, the UN chief said on Wednesday, in a call to action to fight the current surge in global food insecurity.

The global economy is not expected to grow as quickly as predicted due to the war in Ukraine.
© IMF/Brendan Hoffman

Global economic growth downgraded due to spillover from Ukraine war

18 May 2022
Global

The global economy is expected to grow by only 3.1 per cent this year, down from the 4.0 per cent projected in January, largely derailed by the war in Ukraine, according to the UN’s latest World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) report, launched on Wednesday.