The Lid is On

Water doesn’t respect borders, and 153 countries share basins. Water scarcity is increasing, and so is the potential for conflict: “Water for Cooperation” is one of the key themes of this year’s conference. On this week’s episode Conor Lennon from UN News speaks to Suleiman Adamu, Nigeria’s Federal Minister of Water Resources, and Sonja Köppel, the Secretary to the UN Water Convention . The record...

This year’s UN World Water Development Report warned of a global water crisis, unless international cooperation is rapidly stepped up. On this week’s episode of The Lid Is On, recorded the day after the release of the study on 21 March, Conor Lennon speaks to Richard Connor, the editor-in-chief of the report, Kristin Meyer from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), and Neil Dhot, from...

In the last of our mini-series recorded in The Gambia, we look at the challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurs, and how the UN is helping new companies to grow, bringing much-needed jobs to rural areas. Conor Lennon meets Musa Darbo, who quit his well-paying job in the US to return home and start a rice business, in order to employ struggling smallholder farmers, and end The Gambia’s depende...

Gambia has the highest per capita emigration rate of any African nation; between 2015 and 2020 over 33,000 Gambians, mainly young men, left home in search of better opportunities in Europe, despite the low likelihood of success, and significant dangers. Since the end of the dictatorship in 2017, thousands of migrants have returned, and the UN is helping them to find jobs and start small businesses...

When it comes to climate action, The Gambia can proudly lay claim to being the first country to meet its commitments under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreements. But, like all developing countries, its people are suffering disproportionately from the effects of the climate crisis, particularly more unpredictable rainfall, and flooding. In episode three of our mini-series recorded in The Gambia, Conor...

Many women and girls in The Gambia are affected by “period poverty”, meaning that they are unable to afford menstrual products, which puts them at risk of infection, and discourages them from attending school. In the second of our Lid Is On episodes recorded in The Gambia, one of the world’s least developed countries, Conor Lennon from UN News heads to Basse, in the rural Upper River Region, to fi...

The Gambia, the smallest country on the African mainland, and one of the least developed countries in the world, has been going through a transition to full democracy since 2017, the end of a two-decade long dictatorship. In the first episode of a mini-series recorded in The Gambia, Conor Lennon talks to Niania Dabo-Tourey, the country head of the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF, one of several...

It’s been a year since Russian forces invaded neighbouring Ukraine, the beginning of a conflict that led to the displacement of more than 14 million Ukrainians, and around 40 per cent of the population in need of humanitarian aid. Several months into the fighting, Denise Brown took up her position as Resident Coordinator, the most senior UN official in Ukraine. She told Conor Lennon from UN News t...

It is becoming increasingly clear that the climate crisis is having a major impact on migration flows, with millions forced to move from their homes as a result of a disaster, or because they have been affected by slower-moving environmental changes that leave their homes uninhabitable, such as desertification or sea-level rises. On today’s show, Conor Lennon speaks to Felipe González Morales , th...

Appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, but independent, unpaid, and free to  speak their minds, Special Rapporteurs occupy a curious space within the UN System. To find out more about what it’s like to be a Special Rapporteur, and why they are willing to give up their time to cover what are, often, difficult situations, Conor Lennon invited three of them – Nazila Ghanea , Morris Tidball-Bi...

$4.3 trillion: that’s the estimated cost of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a blueprint for a fairer future, covering all of the big issues facing the world, from eradicating poverty and hunger, to building societies free from fear and violence, and taking urgent action on climate change. To help bridge that funding gap, UN chief António Guterres set up the Global Investors for S...

Californian teenager Kale Ilac’s dream is to become a diplomat. The 16-year-old, who is battling cancer, is hopefully on the way, thanks to the Make-a-Wish Foundation, who arranged for Kale and his family to take a special tour of the UN in January, meeting senior diplomats and UN officials. On this episode of The Lid Is On, we follow Kale on his visit, which has inspired him to lead a life in ser...

UN News publishes stories in 10 languages, with the aim of ensuring that as many people as possible understand the impact of the United Nations, and in order to provide a reliable news source on a variety of platforms. On today’s show, Conor Lennon speaks to Mita Hosali, who is in overall charge of the UN’s news output, as Deputy Director of the News and Media Division at the UN. They discuss the...

On today’s episode of The Lid is On, Conor speaks to Melissa Fleming, the head of Global Communications at the United Nations, and host of award-winning podcast series, Awake at Night . They discuss the growing dangers of online disinformation, the global impact of the Ukraine war, and the importance of communicating effectively about the positive difference the UN makes to millions around the wor...

In our first Lid Is On of 2023, we take a trip to Geneva, to meet our Palais des Nations correspondent Daniel Johnson, who gives us a virtual visit of the venerable building and its surroundings, and looks back at some of his favourite moments from 2022, in particular the interview that earned him a hug (a rare occurrence for journalists)! Music: Within the Earth, Ketsa

For the last Lid Is On of the year, Conor Lennon invited some of his colleagues for a festive episode, to find out a bit more about them (discovering that one has even sung at Carnegie Hall), and how they wade through reports, studies and data, to tease out stories that demonstrate the real difference the UN makes to people’s lives every day. May Yaccoub, head of the Arabic Unit, Matt Wells, head...

This is the fifth and final episode of Seeking Peace, a podcast from the Department of Peace Operations. In this episode, Melanne Verveer from Georgetown University’s Institute for Women Peace and Security, examines the challenges and complex realities that women uniformed peacekeepers face. We will hear from General Maureen O’Brien, who serves as the Deputy Chief of Military affairs at the UN, ab...

Today, we bring you the fourth episode of Seeking Peace, a podcast from the UN Department of Peace Operations. Melanne Verveer from Georgetown University’s Institute for Women Peace and Security, highlights the extraordinary women whose work defies expectations of traditional gender roles in peacekeeping. Interviewees on today’s episode are Téné Maimouna Zoungrana leads the rapid intervention acti...

In Episode 3 of Seeking Peace, a podcast from the UN Department of Peace Operations, Melanne Verveer from Georgetown University’s Institute for Women Peace and Security, focuses on women’s role in bringing about peace through politics. We will hear from Mireille Laurier Affa'A Mindzie, the Senior Gender Advisor for the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Beatrice Epay...

In Episode 2 of Seeking Peace, a podcast from the Department of Peace Operations, Melanne Verveer from Georgetown University’s Institute for Women Peace and Security explores women’s roles in peace negotiations and the implementation of peace agreements. The interviewees in this episode are the UN Assistant Secretary General for Africa, Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Maïga Aziza from Mali, the first-ever...

This week, The Lid Is On has partnered with the UN Department of Peace Operations , to bring you five episodes from the latest season of their podcast, Seeking Peace.   In this episode, Melanne Verveer, the Executive Director of the Georgetown University's Institute for Women Peace and Security, and former United States Ambassador for Global Women's Issues, introduces inspiring activists from...

On this week’s The Lid Is On, we’re introducing you to UNiting Against Hate, a new series from UN Podcasts. Katy Dartford talks to those who have encountered hate speech first-hand, as well as activists and experts from around the world about how they are trying to counter it. In this episode, she has an in-depth conversation with two organizations who monitor hate speech, and discusses with them...

The world has never been more inter-connected, but this has made it easier than ever before to spread disinformation, hate speech, and information that divides, and causes fear and mistrust. Intercultural dialogue has been described as an antidote to rejection and violence. But can it really make a difference in a world where toxic language and conflict make headlines, generate more clicks and, or...

We though it was all over…it is now, we promise! We gave you the instant reaction to the final COP27 plenary session on what we though was the last podcast on the event, but then we decided to get an expert perspective from Selwin Hart, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Climate, and friend of the podcast. Conor got to sit down with Selwin, and find out more about the progress that was...

On this week's episode we're letting a new UN podcast take over! It's called amplifyHER, and it's a tribute to some of the best women artists, from around the world, working today.  Over the next 10 weeks, inspiring women musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds, talk to us from their homes and studios, about their challenges as women in a male-dominated industry, overcoming barriers, and...