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Making a Difference

As advocates for the UN we need to know some of the many positive stories of the ongoing work of the UN, and to speak with others about the extraordinary im?pact the UN is making on people’s lives. As the UN and global affairs correspondent for the Positive Spin TV show, I’m able to learn about some of these inspiring stories put out by UN in Action that we use on each segment. I would like to share several with you.

•    Facing a 55% literacy rate, teachers in Morocco need basic resources and up-to-date information to educate more Moroccans and raise the literacy rate in the Kingdom. UNESCO, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, has joined forces with ITU, the International Telecommunications Union, to introduce elec?tronic instruction via satellite tech?nology for teachers. Eleven thousand more teachers are scheduled for training, and 30,000 new schools will be built to offer education to students in remote areas.

•    Cancer has long since been a scourge to people of poorer countries, who are deprived access to sophisti?cated technology to control it. Sri Lanka was one such afflicted country where now radiation therapy has newly stepped in, thanks to the efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA is making available state-of-the-art radio?therapy equipment and specialized training to more than eighty countries globally, including Sri Lanka in order to aggressively attack the disease and help people survive it.

•    Since 1945, the UN has assisted in negotiating more than 170 peace settlements that have ended regional conflicts. Examples include ending the Iran-Iraq war, facilitating the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan and ending the civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala. The United Nations has used quiet diplomacy to avert imminent wars.

        A free booklet, 60 Ways the United Nations Makes a Difference, published by the UN Department of Public Information, provides in words and pictures a sampling of what the United Nations and its component bodies have accomplished since 1945. Contact Riley McMahon or see this link


Kim Weichel, President