By Rudina Vojvoda

©UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) shakes the hand of the newly-appointed Envoy on Youth Ahmad Alhendawi at United Nations headquarters in New York.

NEW YORK, 25 February 2013 – On 15 February 2013, the newly appointed Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi, was sworn in at United Nations (UN) headquarters. A native of Jordan, the 29-year-old Alehndawi comes to this position with extensive experience working on youth issues at the local, regional and international level. On his second day in this new position, Mr. Alehndawi spoke with UNICEF’s podcast moderator Femi Oke about his role and the post-2015 development agenda.

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By Chris Niles

UNICEF correspondent Chris Niles reports on the launch of the Education First initiative at United Nations New York headquarters

NEW YORK, 26 September 2012 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has launched a global education initiative designed to get every child into school.

Education First has already collected $1.5 billion in commitments to achieve universal primary education ahead of the dates for the Millennium Development Goals.

“I am encouraged and grateful for all the generous commitments made today, which gives Education First a boost towards achieving its goals,” Mr. Ban said.

He was joined at United Nations New York headquarters for the launch of Education First by several heads of state, World Bank Group President Dr. Jim Yong Kim and United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown.

“This is a great day for education,” Mr. Brown said.

By Pi James

World Water Day, commemorated each year on 22 March, focuses attention on the importance of freshwater to sustainable dev. World Water Day 2012 emphasizes the importance of water to global food security.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2009-2066/Josh Estey
Yupa Wahup, 5, and a classmate wash their hands at Ban Triem Early Childhood Development Centre in Ban Triem, Thailand. UNICEF provides safe water supplies, sanitation facilities and promotes hygiene education at the centre.

NEW YORK, USA, 21 March – UNICEF and the World Health Organization recently announced that the world had met the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water, well ahead of the 2015 deadline.

In the lead-up to World Water Day on 22 March, UNICEF podcast moderator Femi Oke spoke with Murat Sahin, UNICEF advisor on the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Schools initiative, and Alexander Schratz, the Executive Director of Fit for School, a Philippines-based NGO, about how much progress has been made and what this means for children.

The Global Partnership for Education has helped more than 19 million children go to school for the first time. A campaign to renew support for these efforts will culminate in a pledging event in Copenhagen on 7-8 November. This series of stories seeks to highlight the Partnership’s work in the lead-up to this event.

By Tapuwa L. Mutseyekwa

© UNICEF Zimbabwe/2010/Mutseyekwa
Esnat was left all alone with the few possessions her mother had.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-0795/Marco Dormino
Haiti - A teacher watches a boy, at the head of a queue at Ecole Joyeux Lutins in Port-au-Prince, the capital.

NEW YORK/ GENEVA/ PARIS, 5 October 2011 – Today, on World Teachers’ Day, we honour the millions of educators all over the world who devote their lives to teaching children, youth and adults.

© UNICEF/PAKA2010-00441/Marta Ramoneda
A girl at a UNICEF-supported school in a relief camp for people affected by the floods in Sukkur, Pakistan.

By Rudina Vojvoda

NEW YORK, USA, 27 July 2011 – The floods that hit Pakistan one year ago are considered to be the worst in its history. Triggered by the annual monsoon rains, the water floods claimed hundreds of lives, destroyed 2 million homes and washed away more than 2 million hectares of crops. Among the thousands of buildings lost in the floods, 10,000 were schools, heavily impacting the education of children in Pakistan.