XUNICEF News and Views

  Article shared by Niloufar Pourzand Click here for the article Summary Edith Ballantyne (1922–2025) was a lifelong advocate for peace, justice, and equality. Born in the Sudetenland, her early exposure to political injustice led her to a path of activism.

Article shared by Niloufar Pourzand View this email in your browser Facebook X LinkedIn Bluesky YouTube FOGGS Update: March 2025 Open Consultation Mondays, Africa Consultative Meeting 2025, Op-Ed on Europe, New FOGGS Advisory Board member, Democracy Talks, Partner Events, Katoikos articles, podcasts & art The role of "middle powers" and citizens in balancing the international system. FOGGS   Open Consultation Mondays #7 Can "middle powers" and global citizens rebalance a fractured world order? Join this  FOGGS  Open Consultation to shape a discussion on transforming global systems—without repeating old hierarchies. 👉  bit.ly/foggs-open-consultation-mondays-7 PS: To prepare for the open consultation, have a look at the next item.  FOGGS   at the Africa Consultative Meeting 2025 FOGGS  Executive Director Georgios Kostakos participated in the Africa Consultative Meeting convened by the Africa Think-tank Dialogue and hosted in...

DOGE-UN has plans for UNICEF. Do you believe that the next UNICEF Executive Director will be an American? Let us know!  (Detlef)

This is our greatest challenge. Can we form a group to work on this agenda. Who would be best person to lead? Best Baquer Turning a child-centered humanitarian initiative into a global mass movement is an inspiring challenge, and it demands a mix of vision, strategy, and grassroots action. Here are some ideas to help achieve that transformation: 1. Create a Compelling Narrative Craft a powerful, emotionally engaging story around your initiative that highlights the urgency, impact, and the potential to create meaningful change. Use storytelling to humanize the challenges children face and show relatable success stories. 2. Leverage Technology and Media Launch a global campaign on social media platforms with a unique hashtag to create awareness and encourage participation.   Collaborate with influencers, celebrities, and public figures to amplify your message. Develop multimedia content like videos, podcasts, and interactive posts to engage a diverse audience. 3. Build Str...

  This week ’s feature is about a noble and touching memorial of a mother to her young daughter Renate, who sadly passed way from a brain tumor when she was fifteen years old. Sree Gururaja urged Staneala Beckley to share her experience and challenges in the brick and mortar construction of a separate wing of classrooms in a local school and in launching initiatives for enriching the educational opportunities for children and teachers.

 

 

 

Posted by Kul Gautam Not sure how authoritative & final this listing is, but the proposed cuts are massive. Quite a few prominent US universities suffer massive cuts. Even the Peace Corps, GAVI, PAHO, WHO, UNDP, UNAIDS, UNICEF, etc. are not spared. Kul

Editor's Note:  We are anxious for any news of our colleagues in UNICEF and XUNICEF who may have been affected by the major earthquake yesterday.  Bruce Kennedy and Guy Scandlen have been in touch with Doreen Lobo as below.  If anyone else is in contact or has news of others, please let us know.

 

March is almost over . . . 20 March was the first day of Spring in the US. 26 March is the Independence Day is Bangladesh. Eid ul Fitr will be celebrated by Muslims on Sunday, 30th March (some would differ on moon sighting and decide to celebrate on the 31st––a usual practice. I call it democratic dissenting. Cultures are different––acceptance instead of mocking is wiser).

Announcement shared by Niloufar Pourzand We are pleased to announce that the GlobalChild Program's 2nd book, entitled " Children's Rights-Based Indicators: Strengthening States' Accountability to Children ," edited by Drs. Ziba Vaghri (University of New Brunswick, Canada), Roberta Ruggerio (University of Geneva), and Gerison Lansdown (University College Cork, Ireland) and co-authored by Adem Arkadas-Thibert (independent child rights expert, France) and Christian Whalen (UNB, Canada), has just been published by Springer.

Article shared by Robert Cohen Click here for the article Summary The article raises concerns that the U.S., under the Trump administration's aggressive reforms and isolationist policies, may push for the United Nations to relocate its headquarters out of New York.

AN A-DOOR-ABLE BEAST ? The date was early October, 1984, when I was asked – at very short notice – to travel to Vientiane in Laos, to assist the local UNICEF office there which had somehow managed to be provided some US$ 1 million for a water programme by a generous donor. There was just one difficulty in this matter in that the local office in Laos did not have a single watsan programme officer. I was allocated just one week in Vientiane to make the donation fit the needs of Laotian children.

Article shared by Tom McDermott This article by Patrick Gathara is an important reminder of the importance of the stories we tell about humanitarian and development aid. 

Article shared by Fouad Kronfol An excellent article on the children of Gaza and their traumatic existence. Fouad

Article shared by Viviane Sakkal Click here for the article Summary The U.S. is stepping back from a leading role in childhood vaccinations worldwide, raising serious concerns about the future of global health initiatives. the Trump administration is cutting U.S. funding to Gavi, the global vaccine alliance that helps immunize children in poorer countries.

 Shared by Sree Gururaja Every year , in February and March the tree lined avenues in Bangalore turn into a blaze of pink with blossoms of Tabebuia rosea. Often called the cherry blossoms of Bangalore , the parks and gardens are strewn like pink carpets and are a sight to behold.

Yemen is a particularly dangerous place to work for the United Nations. "In Yemen, 23 UN staff members, along with many other humanitarian workers, remain detained – some for more than three years,” the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Philémon Yang, said in his message to mark the international day.

“The conflict in Yemen has reached a tragic milestone – over one decade of largely unrelenting conflict, with only brief and fragile periods of reduced hostilities, that has stolen childhoods, shattered futures, and left an entire generation fighting to survive.

Maurice Hilleman Article shared by John Gilmartin In 1978 I was a young supervisor in the Merck vaccine manufacturing plant in West Point PA. Maurice Hilleman was then head of vaccine research at Merck; he was sort of famous for vaccine success, and for being difficult to work with. Maurice dropped into the filling and freeze-drying office space with no warning one day. This was like Tom Brady or Taylor Swift dropping in to chat. We were busy, and his reputation fearsome, so we hung back wondering what’s up. A year before I volunteered as a phase one trial volunteer for Maurice’s new Hepatitis B vaccine. The company needed a few healthy volunteers to take the new vaccine to see if we had reactions. None of us reacted to the vaccine, and we may have shown a 'sero-conversion' (the lab told us nothing, but monitored our health for the coming year. At that time, Maurice believed his Hep B was going to be the first licensed anywhere. The French Pasteur Merrieux, and Belgian Smith Kl...