António Guterres was sworn in on December 12 as the next and ninth UN Secretary-General. After taking the oath of office, Guterres addressed the 193-member UN General Assembly, saying the world body must work to "be nimble, efficient and effective."(Read more...)

More people than ever before are helping others in countries across the globe, according to the Charities Aid Foundation's (CAF) World Giving Index, the unique global index of generosity. For the first time since the index began, more than half of people in 140 countries said they helped a stranger, and record numbers of people volunteered their time. (Read more...)

In this article by Devex, executives of social enterprises share best practices on project implementation, staff engagement, and community empowerment to help big NGOs re-strategize their approach to achieving their goals. (Read more...)

The Paris Agreement to address climate change, adopted by world leaders last December at the Climate Conference in Paris (COP 21), officially entered into force on November 4, 2016. To commemorate this historic day, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon invited representatives of civil society organizations to share how their organizations will contribute to the objectives of the Paris Agreement, as well as their visions and concerns.(Read more...)

With a strong call for sustainable urban development, the UN, on October 20, 2016 adopted the New Urban Agenda (NUA) at the closing plenary of the Habitat III Conference in Quito, Ecuador. The NUA is an inclusive, action-oriented document intended to guide the next 20 years of sustainable and transformative urban development worldwide. (Read more...)

U.S. President Barack Obama has congratulated António Guterres on his election as the next secretary-general of the United Nations. “Guterres has the character, vision, and skills needed to lead the United Nations at this critical moment and to reform its organizations and operations to better meet these unprecedented challenges,” Obama said in a statement. (Read more...)

The first-ever global conference on faith and sport, "Sport at the Service of Humanity," took place from October 3 to 5, 2016 at the Vatican, and was supported by the UN and the International Olympic Committee. (Read more...)

The New York State Division of the Budget has launched a new website aimed to streamline relations between the state's 100,000 nonprofits and the state government, as well as communicate information impacting the nonprofit sector. (Read more...)

On September 20, the co-hosts of the Leaders' Summit on Refugees--the governments of Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Jordan, Mexico, Sweden, and the United States--issued a joint statement declaring their support for the outcomes of the summit. Among the results from the summit, which took place on the margins of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly in New York: dozens of countries have agreed to accept more migrants in 2016 and 2017 than they did in 2015 and also pledged an additional $4.5 billion in refugee aid. (Read more...)

On September 19, the UN General Assembly adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, a historic document that calls on countries which can resettle or reunite many more refugees to do so. It also calls for those in the richer part of the world to recognize their responsibility to provide timely and dependable humanitarian funding, while robustly investing in communities that host large numbers of refugees.(Read more...)

The UN has launched the Platform for Action, Commitments and Transformation (PACT). The interactive platform allows users to browse through the commitments governments, NGOs, the UN, and the private sector made at the World Humanitarian Summit. (Read more...)

NGOs have welcomed Kenya’s decision to soften its position to close the Dadaab refugee camp--the world's largest--this year and send back Somali refugees until Somalia stabilizes. (Read more...)

During the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit, held from May 23 to 24, 2016 in Istanbul, participants announced thousands of commitments to turn UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Agenda for Humanity into reality. The Commitments to Action report provides an analysis of the commitments made as part of the Summit process. According to the report, the majority of commitments were pledged by NGOs (38%) followed by Member States (29%). (Read more...)

The Global Innovation Exchange--an online marketplace for innovations that address humanity's greatest challenges--invites innovators, funders, innovation-support organizations and others interested in supporting, scaling and solving development challenges to join its community. (Read more...)

The UN General Assembly will host a high-level summit to address large movements of refugees and migrants on September 19, 2016, with the aim of bringing countries together behind a more humane and coordinated approach. (Read more...)

Nonprofit Tech for Good has announced the launch of its 2016 Global NGO Online Technology Survey. Published in English, French and Spanish, the goal of the survey is to gain a better understanding of how NGOs worldwide use online technology. (Read more...)

The UN invites the public to propose questions to be asked of all candidates for UN Secretary-General during the Global Townhall with UN Secretary-General candidates, which will take place at the UN Headquarters on July 12 from 6:00-9:00 p.m. NY time. Send questions by July 6 via Twitter using #UNSGcandidates or online form: https://unngls.org/UNSGcandidates. (Read more...)

From June 22 to 23, corporate leaders and entrepreneurs gathered for the 2016 Global Compact Leaders Summit in New York, where the Global Compact unveiled a new, multi-year strategy to drive business awareness and activity that supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. (Read more...)

Many nonprofits in the U.S. stay away from advocacy with the mindset that if they venture into politics they will lose support and their 501(c)(3) status. But is that true? In actuality, advocacy done right can make a huge difference for an organization. In this npEngage.com blog post, discover the benefits of having an online advocacy strategy and how to measure the ROI of an advocacy effort.(Read more...)

A partnership of leading international organizations, including the UN, announced on June 7 the launch of a first-ever global standard to measure food loss and waste--the Food Loss and Waste Accounting and Reporting Standard. According to the UN, an estimated one-third of all food is lost or wasted worldwide as it moves from where it is produced to where it is eaten, and costs up to $940 billion per year.(Read more...)

The World Humanitarian Summit, which is taking place on May 23 and 24, 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey, will be live-streaming the events of the Summit on its website. (Read more...)

WANGO has named H.E. Dr. Jamal Sanad Al-Suwaidi, a United Arab Emirates intellectual and writer, and the Director General of the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), as the recipient of its first Literary Peace Award. In presenting the award to Dr. Al-Suwaidi, at an event WANGO hosted at the United Nations on April 7, 2016, WANGO Secretary General Dr. Taj Hamad recognized Dr. Al-Suwaidi for his courage and the sacrifices he endured to educate the world about extremism through his book, "The Mirage."(Read more...)

The environment is deteriorating faster than previously thought, says "The Global Environmental Outlook: Regional Assessments," the most authoritative study the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has ever published on the state of the planet’s health. (Read more...)

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has expressed “profound concern” over the Government of Kenya's announcement in early May that it intends to end the hosting of refugees because of economic, security and environmental burdens, and has called on the Government to reconsider its decision.(Read more...)

WANGO together with the Permanent Missions of Grenada and The Gambia to the UN held a special event on the “Intellectual War and Extremist Groups,” featuring H.E. Dr. Jamal Sanad Al-Suwaidi, director general of the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) and author of "The Mirage," at the UN Headquarters in New York on April 7. (Read more...)

The U.S. State Department, on April 13, released its 2015 Human Rights Reports. The reports point to a "global governance crisis" and cites an "accelerating trend" by state and non-state actors "to close the space for civil society." (Read more...)

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will convene the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit from May 23-24, 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey. Ahead of the Summit, the Secretary-General presented the Agenda for Humanity, five different areas requiring collective action that, taken as a whole, provides the key actions and strategic shifts the world needs.(Read more...)

WANGO's Africa Regional Director, Mohammed Bougei Attah, has been named a mentor in the Queen's Young Leaders 2016 program. The program recognizes and celebrates exceptional people aged 18-29 from across the Commonwealth, who are taking the lead in their communities and using their skills to transform lives. (Read more...)

UNICEF has announced the launch of #ClimateChain, a global campaign to raise awareness of climate change and highlight the link between water, climate change and children. The campaign will run from World Water Day on March 22 until the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement on April 22. (Read more...)

The World Health Organization has released a new report that estimates nearly one-quarter of all annual global deaths, or 12.6 million, are from unhealthy environmental causes. (Read more...)

As the process to select the next UN Secretary-General begins, the President of the General Assembly has announced that he will hold a series of meetings with all potential candidates in April. Thus far, six have been officially presented. (Read more...)

On February 1, the UN system launched a new initiative to tackle the global youth employment crisis. The Global Initiative on Decent Jobs will scale-up action to create new opportunities and avenues for quality employment for young people and assist them in "developing the skills needed to compete in today’s job market." (Read more...)

In 22 countries affected by conflict, nearly 24 million children living in crisis zones are out of school, UNICEF reported in January. South Sudan is home to the highest proportion of out of school children. Niger is a close second, followed by Sudan and Afghanistan. (Read more...)

The UN will hold a summit on managing large-scale movements of migrants and refugees during the 2016 General Assembly in September.(Read more...)

Google Maps and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have agreed to work closely together to make geospatial tracking and mapping products more accessible, providing a high-technology assist to countries tackling climate change.(Read more...)

On December 15, government donors pledged an initial $687.2 million for the work of the UN refugee agency to help almost 60 million displaced or stateless people worldwide in 2016. (Read more...)