Safe, affordable water in urban areas is central to sustainable development, yet progress remains uneven. To close this gap, cities need to adopt integrated, evidence-based approaches that build resilient and equitable services in practice
Global
-
-
Universal health coverage – a central target of the SDGs – seeks to guarantee access to essential health services without financial hardship. Achieving it, however, requires confronting the inequalities in access and quality that coverage alone cannot resolve
-
-
We have built an intricate understanding of the dynamics between climate change, environmental systems, and resource use. We have also made huge strides in developing tools to analyze and model data. Why, then, are we not using this science to direct policy?
-
Education can be a powerful force for shifting unequal gender norms, but schools do not transform them automatically. Embedding gender equality in education systems at scale – and defending that work against growing backlash – requires sustained political commitment, institutional reform, and public support
-
Stopping polarization from destroying democracy
Peace and security
Political polarization is pushing many democracies into mutually hostile camps with conflicting views of reality. Restoring democratic health will require citizens and leaders to shift the focus from what divides society to what binds it
-
Conflict and displacement are driving a largely overlooked crisis in maternal nutrition, with grave consequences for women, babies, and long-term development. Protecting mothers’ health is one of the most effective ways to save lives and advance progress across the SDGs in fragile settings
-
Can the UN still make peace?
Peace and security
With the Security Council divided and the UN’s wider credibility under strain, member states are looking to the next Secretary-General for a fresh vision of peacemaking. But what can one leader realistically do to restore the organization’s influence on peace and security?
-
As climate litigation gathers force, women are helping to redefine what accountability looks like – and exposing how far climate policy still is from delivering gender justice
-
The case for a woman Secretary-General is not just about symbolism. More representative leadership would strengthen the UN’s legitimacy, improve decision-making, and better equip the institution for an era of compounding global crises
-
Motherhood still comes with a pay penalty, and women continue to be paid less for work of equal value – not by accident, but by design. Tackling these injustices means changing how pay is set and progression is measured and rewarded – through transparency, enforcement, and stronger worker protections
