Showing 1 - 10 of 14
School meal programmes give food for thought
News, Gordon Brown & Kevin Watkins, Published on 23/01/2025
» When governments adopted the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, they pledged to eliminate hunger and poverty. But today, as the SDGs' 2030 deadline approaches, a gulf separates their initial ambition and the reality on the ground. The 2020s are shaping up to be a lost decade for development -- and the world's most vulnerable children are bearing the brunt of this slowdown.
Moving towards a fifth world order
Oped, Gordon Brown & Mohamed A El-Erian, Published on 26/10/2024
» The Bretton Woods institutions -- the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank -- are now 80 years old. But they are as under-resourced and poorly supported by national governments as at any time in their history. Their predicament is perhaps the clearest sign that economic and financial multilateralism is fragmenting along with the global economy. Worse, this fragmentation comes at a time of rising international tensions, financial fragility, sputtering growth, rising poverty, and mounting reconstruction bills in Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine, and elsewhere.
Invest in WHO for outsize returns
News, Gordon Brown, Published on 23/10/2024
» In August, 14 of Africa's poorest countries, alongside international organisations and private companies, pledged over US$45 million (1.5 billion baht) to the World Health Organization's (WHO's) new Investment Round, which aims to raise $7.1 billion in voluntary contributions to close its current funding gap for the next four years, improve primary care, and build a more robust, better-trained health workforce.
Here's how to salvage COP28
News, Gordon Brown, Published on 30/11/2023
» The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai starts on Thursday. It has become increasingly clear that only a bold financing initiative spearheaded by the United Arab Emirates could provide essential funding and support to the Global South.
Global rulebook needs a facelift
Oped, Gordon Brown, Published on 28/09/2023
» After India's G20 summit and the UN General Assembly this month, world leaders next month will attend the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Marrakesh, before heading to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai. But there is little optimism that these summits will deliver meaningful progress in tackling our greatest challenges, not because of any lack of resolve, but because the global rulebook we have been following since the end of World War II is no longer fit for purpose.
Navigating the risks of AI will require a team effort
Oped, Robert Muggah, Gabriella Seiler & Gordon LaForge, Published on 11/03/2023
» Recent months may well be remembered as the moment when predictive artificial intelligence went mainstream. While prediction algorithms have been in use for decades, the release of applications such as OpenAI's ChatGPT3 -- and its rapid integration with Microsoft's Bing search engine -- may have unleashed the floodgates when it comes to user-friendly AI.
Why do gamblers love to bet on football so much?
News, Aaron Brown & Richard Dewey, Published on 13/02/2023
» Billions of dollars will be wagered on the Super Bowl today, spotlighting the popularity of betting on football. A big part of the appeal is the scoring system, which was developed nearly 150 years ago by the "father of football," Walter Camp, and is unique among the globally popular team sports.
Don't waste young Pakistani lives
Oped, Yasmine Sherif and Gordon Brown, Published on 27/09/2022
» Following this year's catastrophic flooding in Pakistan, millions of young Pakistanis' life opportunities are hanging by a thread. The floods caused more than $10 billion (over 377 billion baht) worth of damage, and emergency support is urgently needed to rebuild. The crisis will be top of mind as United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and 120 national leaders gather later this month in New York for the Transforming Education Summit.
Kofi Annan's lessons in global leadership
Oped, Nane Annan, Mark Malloch-Brown, Comfort Ero, Susana Malcorra and Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, Published on 09/06/2022
» The world is facing a set of acute crises without recent parallel: a war in Europe that could escalate into a nuclear conflict, skyrocketing food prices that are hitting the poor the hardest, the Covid-19 pandemic and the climate emergency. We need principled statesmen and women to forge bold, morally consistent responses to these and other global problems. Sadly, such leaders are in short supply.
The guardians of civil society and democracy
Oped, Michelle Bachelet, Darren Walker & Mark Malloch-Brown, Published on 16/12/2021
» When global leaders gathered virtually last week from Dec 9-10 for US President Joe Biden's Summit for Democracy, they ought to have asked themselves a simple question: What can we do to help democracy's bravest advocates, like the protesters who are risking their lives in Sudan?