Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

  The Donkey Sanctuary delegation at the UN High Level Political Forum July 2025 Ian Cawsey Director Of Advocacy & Campaigns at The Donkey Sanctuary July 30, 2025 Without donkeys, there is no prospect of a safe, sustainable future for many parts of the world and consequently, this threatens all of humankind and indeed, the future of our planet. Reading that back that sounds dramatic or even just ridiculous. It’s not, it’s true. If we consider some of the biggest issues the world faces, whether that is poverty, food insecurity, gender inequality, access to clean water or climate and disaster resilience, in so many parts of the world donkeys are key to delivering better outcomes. Our work at The Donkey Sanctuary is to ensure that policymakers understand this connection and then ensure that donkeys’ unique contribution gets the recognition and protection that it needs and deserves. Donkeys and gender equality: a surprising truth This month, I led a small delegation from our Public...

Guest blog by Michael Stanley-Jones is an Environmental Policy and Governance Fellow at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. First published on IPS here. RICHMOND HILL, Ontario, Canada, Jul 28 2025 (IPS)  - The UN80 Initiative, unveiled in March by Secretary-General António Guterres, is a system-wide effort to reaffirm the UN’s relevance for a rapidly changing world. The Initiative comes at a time of brutal budget cuts across the UN system. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees is cutting 3,500 jobs and making reductions in senior positions and offices to manage budget shortfalls. The World Health Organisation is expected to cut 20-25% of its global staff. Cuts at The World Food Programme range up to 30%. And yet the needs served by the United Nations remain stark. The UN appealed for US$29 billion funding for the Global Humanitarian Overview 2025 to assist nearly 180 million vulnerable people, ...

Savoring Community, One Cup at a Time For those who know me well, they know that my work around the UN, where the meetings are, usually revolves around where the coffee is. One of my books was even called How to Lobby at Intergovernmental Meetings – Mine is a café Latte! So, I thought, why not help my fellow lobbyists going to the UN in New York for the first or second time with some suggestions for the best coffee places to hang out in and arrange meetings with member states at? Midtown Manhattan, as you will experience, is a whirlwind of energy, global diversity, and iconic skyline. It is home to the United Nations Headquarters—a beacon for international cooperation and dialogue in a time of global political crisis. The UN has its own amazing coffee places to lobby and enjoy coffee. These are:  Vienna Cafe: It is probably most famous for hosting meetings with member state representatives, as it is situated in the General Assembly building (1st Basement South).  It is locate...

Sir Dr. David Nabarro, one of the leading experts in health, including nutrition, COVID-19, and Ebola, is no longer with us.  in a post on X Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu, the current Director-General of WHO said: "David was a great champion of global health and health equity, and a wise, generous mentor to countless individuals,"  He joined WHO in 1999, working on Malaria, AIDS and TB.  In 2017, David was the UK candidate to head the WHO and the runner-up to Tedos. He served as the Special Envoy for both the Ebola (2014)  and COVID-19 health crises. David has worked in over 50 countries, collaborating with communities, hospitals, governments, and stakeholders, as well as extensively with the UN. Before joining the UN, he worked for the UK government and ultimately served as head of the then Department for International Development's Health, Population and Human Development division.  His more recent work has included serving as the Special Representative of th...

This is the fifth podcast from the book  Negotiating the Sustainable Development Goals: A transformational agenda for an insecure world  by  Felix Dodds ,  Ambassador David Donoghu e and  Jimena Leiva Roesch . Throughout the five episodes, we examine the political negotiations and institutional shifts that led to the creation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal set of 17 goals and 169 targets, with accompanying indicators, that were agreed upon by UN member states to frame their policy agendas for the 15 years from 2015 to 2030. Written by three authors who have been engaged in the development of the SDGs from the beginning, this book offers an insider view of the process and a unique entry into what will be seen as one of the most significant negotiations and global policy agendas of the twenty-first century.  What is in this Episode? In episode 5, the final one of our series, we loo...