Publications

New Technologies in Emergencies and Conflicts: The Role of Information and Social Networks

Issue Area: Technology

Our latest report -- New Technologies in Emergencies and Conflicts: The Role of Information and Social Networks -- looks at innovation in the use of technology along the timeline of crisis response, from emergency preparedness and alerts to recovery and rebuilding. It profiles organizations whose work is advancing the frontlines of innovation, offers an overview of international efforts to increase sophistication in the use of IT and social networks during emergencies, and provides recommendations for how governments, aid groups and international organizations can leverage this innovation to improve community resilience.

Global Environmental Change: The Threat to Human Health

Issue Area: Children’s Health

Issue Area: Climate & Energy

Rapid changes to the climate and in land use endanger the health of hundreds of millions of people worldwide and now represent the greatest public health challenge of the 21st century. The scale of these global changes threatens access to adequate food, clean air, safe drinking water, and secure homes. Poor populations, mainly in developing countries, are the most vulnerable to these environmental changes, even though they are the least responsible for contributing to them.

UN Foundation Newsletter (Fall 2009)

Issue Area: Children’s Health

Issue Area: Climate & Energy

Issue Area: Sustainable Development

Issue Area: Technology

Issue Area: UN-US Relations

Issue Area: Women & Population

A semi-annual newsletter highlighting the UN Foundation's programs and people.

Start with a Girl: A New Agenda for Global Health

Issue Area: Women & Population

Center for Global Development

The report highlights serious health risks that are especially prevalent among women and girls, calls for increased action and investment in girls’ education and health agendas, and explains how the combined help of governments, non-governmental organizations, individuals and the private sector, can improve health prospects for millions of women around the world.

Meeting the Climate Challenge: Core Elements of an Effective Response to Climate Change

Issue Area: Climate & Energy

UN Foundation & Center for American Progress

New findings show most emissions reductions needed by 2020 can be met with policy measures that will return net cost-savings.

Enhancing Private Investment in Clean Energy in Developing Countries

Issue Area: Climate & Energy

On September 21, 2009, GLCA member and former World Bank President, James Wolfensohn, chaired a roundtable discussion on Financing Low Carbon Energy in Developing Countries that brought together private sector investors and public policy experts in New York. This paper was prepared as a background note for the roundtable discussion.

Sizing the Business Potential of mHealth in the Global South: A Practical Approach

Issue Area: Technology

Sustainable business strategies are essential to the successful scaling of mHealth projects everywhere, yet only a vanguard of companies have begun making significant investments in mHealth. This report identifies critical success factors for stimulating cross-sector collaboration and proposes three methodological approaches to sizing the mHealth market.

Practical Strategies for Immediate Progress on Climate Change: Building Blocks for a Global Agreement

Issue Area: Climate & Energy

United Nations Foundation

Forging an effective response to climate change is one of the international community’s highest priorities. Governments have pledged to conclude a global agreement under UN auspices by the end of 2009 in Copenhagen. Fortunately, the most urgent actions that countries must take to combat climate change are neither politically controversial, nor must they await establishment of a new international climate framework. The basic “building blocks” of an effective climate policy can be constructed more rapidly and are politically attractive because they deliver other economic, security, and environmental benefits.

Nothing But Nets 2008 Report

Issue Area: Children’s Health

In 2008, supporters of the Nothing But Nets campaign have saved millions of lives. With the funds raised, the life-saving bed nets distributed, the number of supporters reached, and the raised profile of malaria, 2008 proved to be a successful year for Nothing But Nets and, ultimately, the global effort to prevent malaria.

mHealth for Development: The Opportunity of Mobile Technology for Healthcare in the Developing World

Issue Area: Technology

This report examines issues at the heart of the rapidly evolving intersection of mobile phones and healthcare. It helps the reader to understand mHealth’s scope and implementation across developing regions, the health needs to which mHealth can be applied, and the mHealth applications that promise the greatest impact on heath care initiatives.