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UNAI Members Using Sport for Development

Sports provide more than just a way to stay fit, they can be a powerful tool to promote cross cultural understanding, social integration and economic development across geographical, cultural and political contexts.

Several United Nations Academic Impact member institutions have recognized the pivotal role athletics can play in bridging divides and have undertaken a number of initiatives to capitalize on the unifying power of sport.Ìý

Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne offers nearly 50 physical programs that attract more than 4,200 student participants every year. UEFAPS (the physical activity organization at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) is open to all students on campus and offers activities such as soccer, basketball, boxing, jujitsu, kungfu and Tai Chi.Ìý

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The Silent Tsunami: Summer Course Examines Food Insecurity and Poverty

Each day 66 million primary school-aged children across the developing world attend classes hungry.Ìý Poor nutrition causes 45 per cent of deaths in children under age five - that's 3.1 million children each year.Ìý Hunger kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. ^Ìý1

ASPIRE Chapter Spotlight: East Stroudsburg South High School

Generating movement towards positive dialogue, fostering good will, and strengthening the foundation of our American democracy. These are the goals of the United Nations ASPIRE chapter of East Stroudsburg South High School.Ìý Uniting around the diversity of its members, ASPIRE aims to make an impact globally and locally by actively pursuing social justice while developing a broader understanding of global citizenship.Ìý

DPI/NGO: 'Let us work together to foster education for global citizenship,' Ban tells Ãå±±½ûµØconference

30 May 2016 – The sixty-sixth United NationsÌýÌýkicked off today in Gyeongju, Republic of Korea, withÌýÌýBan Ki-moonÌýhighlighting the vital role that NGOs, academia and youth play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals ().

We need governments, the private sector and civil society, Mr. BanÌýÌýthe more than 2,000 people gathered for the opening session. Without the participation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society groups, no initiative, however visionary, can be fully achieved, he added.

Wild for Life: World Environment Day 2016 Focuses on Illegal Wildlife Trade & Protecting Endangered Species

This is a Giant Sable, a large, rare sub-species of sable antelope that is found in Angola's forested highlands and nowhere else in the world.ÌýThe animal is threatened by poaching and habitat loss and appears on a list of endangered species who face extinction due to illegal wildlife trafficking.ÌýNow the whole world is trying to cooperate in order to save this species and many others.

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WHS: Ãå±±½ûµØhumanitarian summit to 'shape a different future,' Ban tells thousands at opening ceremony

23 May 2016 – At the opening of theÌýÌý(WHS) in Istanbul today, United NationsÌýÌýBan Ki-moon joined the President of Turkey, relief activists and international celebrities to urge the global community to shape a different future for the world.

The Ãå±±½ûµØin Your World: Awareness and Action on the SDGs

Three members of United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) began working together this spring to help support the success of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by collaborating across cultures to broaden perspectives on how to achieve the Global Goals.Ìý Under the direction of ÌýGlobal Education Motivators (GEM), students from Effat University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, PA, United States, worked in support of the UNAI directive to provide a mechanism for such institutions to commit themselves to the fundamental precepts driving the United Nations mandate, in particular the realization of the universally accepted Sustainable Development Goals.

Call for Applications for the 2016 UNAOC Fellowship Program

The 2016 United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) Fellowship Program is now open for applications from emerging leaders and young professionals from Europe, North America (EUNA), the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Since 2010, the annual UNAOC Fellowship Program has been offering participants the opportunity to foster intercultural dialogue and interfaith understanding by providing first hand exposure to diversity and the chance to experience cultural immersion while interacting with a wide range of actors and partners from EUNA and MENA.

World Press Freedom Day 2016: Ensuring Freedom of Information and Safety for Journalists!

Each year on 3 May World Press Freedom Day offers an opportunity to remember journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty while reaffirming the international community's commitment to the principle of press freedom.Ìý Last week United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) in cooperation with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) convened a conference in observance of World Press Freedom Day 2016 entitled Access to Information and Fundamental Freedoms: This Is Your Right! at Ãå±±½ûµØHeadquarters in New York. ÌýThe focus of the conference was on advancing the 2030 Agenda through freedom of information and safety for journalists.

Refugees and Migrants: A Crisis of Solidarity

This September, the United Nations General Assembly will bring together world leaders to address one of the leading challenges of our time: responding to large movements of refugees and migrants.

War, human rights violations, underdevelopment, climate change and natural disasters are leading more people to leave their homes than at any time since we have had reliable data.Ìý More than 60 million people -- half of them children -- have fled violence or persecution and are now refugees and internally displaced persons.Ìý An additional 225 million are migrants who have left their countries in search of better opportunities or simply for survival.

But this is not a crisis of numbers; it is a crisis of solidarity.Ìý Almost 90 per cent of the world's refugees are hosted in developing countries.Ìý Eight countries host more than half the world's refugees.Ìý Just ten countries provide 75 per cent of the UN's budget to ease and resolve their plight.

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NYU Shanghai hosts Conference on Sustainability Challenges and Solutions

Focusing on environmental issues from a global perspective, the NYU Shanghai Sustainable Development Conference took place on Saturday, 16 April 2016 with an aim to share information about current environmental issues and practical, evidence-based solutions.

NYU Shanghai students recognize that 2016 is a pivotal year for sustainable development, as world leaders are uniting in an effort to establish different kinds of social and economic structures to manage climate change. Green Shanghai, NYU Shanghai's organization for environmental issues and sustainability, carefully crafted a noteworthy lineup of experts and influencers who armed the participants with new strategies, insights and guidelines for how they can be part of the change.

Applications now open for International Bioethics Summer School in NYC!

'Today is an historic day,' says Ban, as 175 countries sign Paris climate accord

22 April 2016 – As 175 world leaders signed theÌýÌýat United Nations Headquarters today,ÌýÌýBan Ki-moon said the next critical step is to ensure that the landmark accord for global action on climate change enters into force as soon as possible.

Today is an historic day, Mr. BanÌýÌýreporters at a press conference following the opening ceremony of the signing event. This is by far the largest number of countries ever to sign an international agreement on a single day.

'We are in a race against time,' says Ban, as leaders sign landmark Paris climate accord

22 April 2016 – With their signatures of the landmark Paris climate accord, governments made a covenant with the future,ÌýÌýBan Ki-moon said at the end of a United Nations ceremony that saw the largest single-day turn-out for such an event, and which puts the world on a path towards low-carbon growth and a more sustainable future.

Yet, while today's signing is a vote of confidence in a new approach to climate change, it is imperative that the strong political momentum continues to grow, the Ãå±±½ûµØchief stressed, in concluding remarks to the day-longÌýÌýfor theÌý.

The Race is On to Choose the Next Ãå±±½ûµØSecretary-General!

This year marks the last year in office for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which means that the race is on to selected a new SG to lead the organization for the next five years. ÌýThe post of Secretary-General has been described as the most impossible job in the world, while the official Ãå±±½ûµØ says the job is Equal parts diplomat and advocate, civil servant and CEO. Ìý

In the past the selection of the Secretary-General has been done via a process shrouded in mystery and not accessible to the average citizen.Ìý But this year the process is moving into the 21^st century with candidates participating in town halls and taking questions submitted via social media from people all over the world.Ìý Ìý