UN Necessary

Recorded in part in Stockholm, Sweden during the Global Challenges Foundation Partner Days , this episode of UN Necessary takes the podcast on the road for a candid, wide-ranging conversation about what is—and isn’t—necessary for the United Nations at a pivotal moment for global governance and multilateral reform . Hosts Nudhara Yusuf and Daniel Perell draw on rapid-fire conversations with diploma...

In this episode of UN Necessary , recorded in New York, hosts Nudhara Yusuf and Daniel Perell speak with Ambassador Brian Wallace , Jamaica’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and former co-facilitator of the UN Declaration on Future Generations . As the world grapples with escalating global challenges—from climate change and inequality to geopolitical instability— Ambassador Wallace...

In this episode of UN Necessary, recorded on 22 January 2025 in New York, hosts Nudhara Yusuf and Daniel Perell sit down with Stephen Heintz, President and CEO of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Dr. Richard Ponzio, Director of the Global Governance, Justice, and Security Program where he also co-directs the Global Governance Innovation Network. As the world grapples with rising geopolitical ten...

From the sidelines of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, UAE, in November 2023, UN Necessary’s Daniel Perell spoke with former president of Costa Rica Carlos Andrés Alvarado Quesada on his administration’s efforts to push against societal inertia to lead Costa Rica on the path to decarbonization. Drawing inspiration from his grandparents’ generation, which abolished Costa Rica’s military, and...

In the last UN Necessary episode ahead of the Summit of the Future, Nudhara Yusuf and Daniel Perell speak with Uruguayan doctor and activist Felipe Paullier, the UN’s first Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs, to explore his vision for empowering young voices in multilateral spaces. Felipe shares his personal motivations and the complexities of leading a new office—while trying to bridge...

In this episode of UN Necessary, recorded in March and July, hosts Nudhara Yusuf and Daniel Perell dive into the complexities of global governance and United Nations reform with Natalie Samarasinghe, outgoing global director of advocacy at the Open Society Foundations , who was previously executive director of the UN Association-UK. Recorded amidst the bustling atmosphere of the March 2024 Global...

UN Necessary’s hosts, Nudhara Yusuf and Daniel Perell, share reflections on the United Nations Civil Society Conference, which was held between May 9-10 in Nairobi, Kenya, and how it might pave the way for civil society to play a meaningful September 2024 Summit of the Future. The episode was recorded before the conference was held. Dan and Nudhara then talk with David Passarelli, from the United...

Before he was Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres was prime minister of Portugal; and before she was President of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, Maria João Rodrigues was Minister for Employment and Education Training in Mr. Guterres’s government, as well as an advisor, and later serving as a Member of European Parliament. In the latest episode of UN Necessar...

Ishaan Shah, a 20-something student at King’s College, University of London, became seized with the problem of modern slavery while still a teenager. Now a youth activist whose work cuts across the United Nations system, he joins Nudhara Yusuf and Daniel Perell to talk about the need for young voices to be included in international forums not just for appearances but for “the plot”; in other words...

Nudhara and Dan are joined by Maria Fernanda Espinosa, president of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly and Executive Director of GWL Voices , about the international community’s responsibility to include diverse voices at the upcoming 2024 Summit of the Future . These are not limited to experts, activists or officials from the global south, as well as the north.  In the UN Necessary podcast’...