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¡°How, in our age, do we overcome this competition between ecology and economy, which is leading us to so many destructive and ultimately, increasingly catastrophic realities around the world?¡±

Born in Brazil to German parents, Achim Steiner knows first hand the power of cultural exchange to drive international cooperation. Now head of UNDP, he leads global efforts to secure a better future for our planet and its people.

¡°The clearest lesson from 50 years of modern development thinking is don't try and just pick one aspect and put all your eggs in that basket. Society is complex, development is about choices. And you will either get them right and succeed or you will fall apart.¡±

Achim reflects on the thorniest challenges facing humanity, on his hopes for a fairer, cleaner future, and on the vital lessons he learned in rural Pakistan.

Achim Steiner :: interviewed by Melissa Fleming

¡°Human rights ¡­ is the strongest tool that we have in our hands to be a voice of those who don't have power and to speak truth to those who have the power and to make sure that they understand that yes, that there are limits to power.¡±

Volker T¨¹rk has the greatest respect for those able to hold onto hope when all appears to be lost. As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, he has devoted his life and career to helping the world¡¯s most vulnerable people.

¡°What has always struck me was encounters with people who are extremely resilient ¡­ who actually see hope, including in the most atrocious circumstances, and who just keep doing the right thing.¡±

Volker reflects on holding rulebreakers to account, the strength displayed by refugees, and why the best ideas often arrive in the dead of night.

"[...] for me refugees almost become... They epitomize, they represent us in our humanity."

Volker T¨¹rk :: interviewed by Melissa Fleming

¡°The evidence is pretty overwhelming that it doesn't even take very long for migration to actually pay out pretty significantly for the communities who host the migrants¡±

Amy Pope has always championed humane and orderly migration as an opportunity for societies, not a problem. Now the first female Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) she is campaigning for a fundamental shift in attitudes towards newcomers.

¡°You just give somebody a little space. Everybody has purpose. Everybody has dreams, everybody wants to be seen.¡±

Human migration is likely to rise over the coming decades, with the IOM predicting that hundreds of millions of people could be displaced due to climate change alone. Amy reflects on how better to prepare communities and why celebrating the contributions of migrants is a win-win for societies around the world.

Amy Pope :: interviewed by Melissa Fleming

"What worries me a lot is whether we are focusing on any given day the crisis of today, and forget about the crisis of yesterday and the day before."

Big or small, Joyce Msuya has always found ways to give back. Now Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator in OCHA, she oversees the global response to the world¡¯s worst crises.

¡°For me, personally, it's a privilege to serve humanity. I wake up every morning and think about how I can shift the needle in someone's life.¡±

From Gaza to Ukraine, Haiti to Sudan, the UN estimates 300 million people around the world are in need of life-saving assistance and protection. In this episode, Joyce reflects on keeping hope alive despite waking to fresh crises every day, on the shocking impacts of climate-related extreme weather, and on the long-term benefits of a strict boarding school.

Joyce Msuya :: interviewed by Melissa Fleming

¡°2.6 billion people don't have access to the internet ¡­ if you're not part of the digital revolution, you're not going to be part of the AI revolution ¨C we¡¯ve got to close that gap.¡±

Doreen Bogdan-Martin¡¯s fascinating career handed her a front row seat for the digital revolution. Now Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), she¡¯s among those leading global efforts to set guardrails on the use of Artificial Intelligence.

¡°I think we've never seen anything like this before ¡­ the plane is in flight and we're building it while we're flying - it's tremendous.¡±

AI presents huge opportunities for humanity, but also poses great risks. In this episode, Doreen Bogdan-Martin reflects on working to ensure the humane and sustainable use of AI, on connecting the billions around the world who are not yet online, and on juggling a career with four children.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin :: interviewed by Melissa Fleming

"I wish that all the children and young people - you know, protesting on the streets, asking for climate justice, being arrested, being detained - I wish that they could just be children [... I wish for a world where my son ] can be light and free and not be bombarded with responsibilities of issues that he didn't have a hand in creating."

Appointed to a senior UN role aged just 26, Jayathma Wickramanayake¡¯s career trajectory testifies to the power of education. Now senior policy advisor at UN Women, she is working to empower all women and girls to fulfill their potential ¨C whatever their background.

In this episode, Jayathma reflects on the global hunger for learning, her beginnings in conflict-ridden Sri-Lanka, and her hopes for her own baby son.

¡°don't wait for advice. Don't wait for invitations. Just look around, you will find ways to contribute to change in your own family, in your own community, in your college, in your university and in your country.¡±

Jayathma Wickramanayake :: interviewed by Melissa Fleming

¡°Somebody who lived in an IDP camp ¡­ [is] suddenly back home, in dignity, self-reliant and thinking, ¡®I want to reimagine what life means for me¡¯ ¡­ Yes, I'm very proud.¡±

A former child refugee, Mohamed Yahya knows the life-long pain of yearning for a lost home. That¡¯s why some of his most emotional experiences with the United Nations have involved helping displaced people return to their towns years after they fled a brutal conflict.

Until recently working with internally displaced communities in northern Nigeria, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Pakistan is a life-long champion of community-led development.

In this episode, Mohamed Yahya reflects on the challenge of rebuilding scattered communities, on his experiences of being a refugee twice, and on the lasting allure of home.

¡°There's always a sense of something missing. Because you're deprived of going back to where you were born.¡±

Mohamed Yahya :: interviewed by Melissa Fleming

¡°[...] yet we are here seeing unfolding under our watch, our eyes, one of the fastest evolving looming famines, which has been completely fabricated. It's man-made. And which can easily be reversed through political will and political decision. It is deeply frustrating, but it's outrageous and makes me very angry [...] ¡±

Philippe Lazzarini holds one of the most challenging positions in the whole of the United Nations. As head of UNRWA, he is leading the backbone of the humanitarian operation in Gaza.

¡°Ceasefire, ceasefire, ceasefire. If we have a ceasefire and the opening of the crossing, and we can flood assistance to the Gaza Strip, we would be able to prevent this catastrophe.¡±

Following the devastating terror attacks by Hamas and others on 7 October, Israel¡¯s military operations in Gaza have brought unspeakable death and destruction. 2.2 million Palestinians are in the midst of an epic humanitarian catastrophe.

In this episode, Philippe Lazzarini reflects on the trauma of the past months and the human cost of war.

Philippe Lazzarini :: interviewed by Melissa Fleming