Indigenous women in the Philippines have "many problems," including a lack of recognition of their ancestral land rights, so they need to be empowered in order to stand up for those rights, a human rights advocate has urged.
Angelina Baltazar – Ortiz, an Indigenous Mansaka woman from the Compostela Valley in the Philippines, was at UN headquarters for the 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
She is the Program Coordinator of the Indigenous Peoples Education Program, which develops education curriculums and provides training to teachers in Indigenous communities.
Ms Baltazar – Ortiz spoke to Lucy Dean about the importance of empowering Indigenous women to be leaders.
Duration: 5'

Indigenous women in Philippines need to “assert their rights”

Technological innovation can help break down the barriers to success people with disabilities can face in the workplace, a disability activist says.
Casar Jacobson is an entrepreneur and disability activist, and a former Miss Canada. She was at UN Headquarters for a panel discussion celebrating International Women's Day, marked on March 8.
She spoke to Lucy Dean about her work as a disability advocate and began by providing an example of the challenges people with disabilities can face in conference environments.

“We need more innovation”: disability advocate

Eco-friendly innovators need to use clear and un-politicized data to "let people understand" the environmental impact of their actions.
That's according to Julie Moffitt, cofounder of ForeLight Inc., a biomanufacturer of naturally derived replacements for colours and dyes used in the cosmetic, food and animal feed industries.
Ms Moffitt was at UN Headquarters as a competitor in MIT Solve, a project from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in which applicants pitched their sustainable innovations to a panel of judges and shared ideas with other applicants.
She says ForeLight's industrialised photosynthesis technology can reduce the agricultural area needed for growth from 1.3 million square miles, the size of India, to 1.2 thousand square miles, or the size of Rhode Island, a small state in the north-eastern USA.
Ms Moffitt spoke to Lucy Dean about some of the challenges sustainable innovations can face.

"Don't politicize data," sustainable entrepreneur urges

Over five per cent of the world's population is living with hearing loss, but preventing the condition is "infinitely easier" than treating it.
That's according to Dr Shelly Chadha, an expert on hearing loss and deafness prevention from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Dr Chadha added that over one billion adolescents and young people are at risk of hearing loss due to prolonged exposure to loud music.
She spoke with Lucy Dean in the lead up to World Hearing Day, marked on March 3, who began by asking about the prevalence of the condition worldwide.
Duration: 4'38''

Preventing hearing loss “infinitely easier” than treating it: WHO

War museums will "continue to predominate" but peace museums can "give daylight" to stories that are often hidden, an expert on genocide says.
Dr Joyce Apsel is the President of the Institute for the Study of Genocide as well as a Clinical Professor at New York University and the International Network of Museums for Peace representative to the United Nations.
She was at UN Headquarters for a panel discussion on the role of art, music and museums in creating cultures of peace. Following the discussion, Dr Apsel spoke with Lucy Dean about the importance of peace in the world today.
Duration: 3'54''

Peace museums provide a "discourse of caring": genocide expert

Orlando Bloom, British actor and Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) recently travelled to Diffa in south-east Niger where he met with children and families displaced by an insurgency led by Boko Haram militants.
The Diffa region currently hosts over 240,000 internally displaced persons, refugees and returnees, including 160,000 children.
Governments are being asked by the UN to help prevent a famine in the Lake Chad Basin which straddles the borders of Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon.
Lucy Dean reports.

In Niger, Orlando Bloom meets families affected by Boko Haram violence

South Sudan famine aid effort hampered by security fears"
Fall armyworm" pest spreading fast across Southern Africa from Americas
Learning languages gives you many chances in life, says South Sudan journalist

UN and Africa: focus on South Sudan crisis, Southern Africa and multilingualism

A resilient and adaptable health care system is the "bread and butter" of any effective response to a climate-induced crisis.
That's according to Dr Nata Menabde, Executive Director of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) New York office.
Speaking with Lucy Dean following a panel discussion on women and children's health, she began by explaining why women are impacted more severely by climate induced crises.

Resilient health systems support women in climate crises: WHO

Women are often employed in unpaid work, but public employment programmes can help address this inequality.
That's according to Terje Tessem, chief of the Development and Investment Branch in the Employment Policy Department of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Speaking with Lucy Dean following a panel discussion at UN Headquarters about preventing conflict through decent work, he said public employment programmes, wherein public funds are used to generate jobs, have wide-reaching benefits.

Public employment schemes help combat inequalities: ILO

Creating decent employment opportunities in rural areas is "crucial" to preventing people there from leaving because they feel they have no other job options, a phenomenon known as distress migration.
That's according to Cristina Rapone, a rural employment and migration specialist from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Distress migration is migration caused by poverty, food insecurity, conflict or natural disaster and a lack of alternatives.
Speaking to Lucy Dean following a UN panel discussion on the economic challenges of migration, Ms Rapone said rural poverty should be at the core of any discussion about migration.

Decent job opportunities "crucial" to tackling rural migration

English and Spanish speaking multi-platform journalist.
Most work on here completed at and for the United Nations Radio English. 
http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/

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