The “Shared Lives, Shared Future” exhibition features stories from nearly 200 countries and reflects how the spirit and mission of the United Nations has evolved over time.

From humanitarian aid and education to development and sustainability, it features real-life stories of individuals and communities whose lives have been transformed by the UN mission.
Here are some of their personal thoughts.

Mariam dreams of the return of UNRWA schools

Before the current conflict, UNRWA the United Nations agency that helps Palestinian refugees has operated schools throughout the Gaza Strip, providing education to around 300,000 children. A daughter, Mariam, who studied in a UNRWA before the war, said: “We miss the UN schools we went to. I want life to go back to the way it was.”

Today, UNRWA, in cooperation with other UN agencies and partners, is providing lifesaving assistance amid a devastating humanitarian crisis.

Radwa, a Sudanese refugee, makes humanitarian aid a life project

Since the outbreak of war in Sudan in April 2023, nearly 12 million people have been forcibly displaced within and outside the country, including 878,000 fleeing to neighboring Chad alone.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) provides them with shelter, food, medical care and education, as well as safe resettlement from insecure border areas.

Among them is Radwa, who fled Sudan to Chad. Combining her entrepreneurial skills with financial assistance from UNHCR, she started a small home-based baking business in the Farchana refugee camp.

“I like to help people because everyone needs support. That’s why I support my fellow refugees so that we can grow together and no one is left behind. It is important to stand by our brothers and sisters, to help them heal,” she said.

Young Yemeni girl escapes early marriage thanks to UN support

At fifteen, Afaf was faced with an impossible choice to help her family: find a job or marry a 40-year-old man.

“At 15, I was pressured to get married, but the UN helped me get through it,” she said.

In a “safe space” supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), she received advice and training. The marriage was ultimately annulled.

Lebanese firefighter faces danger with UN equipment

As part of its emergency response programs, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has provided essential equipment to firefighters in Beirut, in the Lebanese capital, making firefighters’ missions safer and more efficient.

Layal, herself a firefighter, said: “The new equipment provided by the UN greatly improves our safety and preparedness. »

From drugs to cabbage fields

With the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Afghan farmer Zahoor and thousands of others have transitioned from opium cultivation to legal cultivation, transforming their land into a source of hope and sustainable income, also contributing to a safer, drug-free world.

“With the support of the UN, I moved from growing opium to growing cabbage. I received training in modern agriculture and was given pesticides to protect my crops,” Zahoor said.

Eco-industrial parks, a UN partnership for sustainable production

Eco-industrial parks bring businesses together to improve their performance and sustainability. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization’s Global Eco-Industrial Parks Program (UNIDO) supports these parks throughout Ukraine with policy support, capacity building and technical assistance.

Liudmyla, director of an eco-industrial park in Ukraine, told the UN that “since 2020, we have been actively cooperating with the UN on energy-saving projects, which has helped us reduce our gas and electricity consumption and move towards more energy-efficient production.”

Innovative Water Solutions in Malaysia

Rabiah works at the Johor Port Authority in Malaysia, which has partnered with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to design and implement a water saving system.

The UNCTAD Port Management Network promotes best practices, supports South-South cooperation and fosters progress towards Sustainable Development Goals.

“With the support of the UN, we have implemented a solution that saves 10 million liters of fresh water every year,” Rabiah reported.

The exhibition will also be presented in various locations around the world and is accessible online.

Answering questions from the United Nations on trade and development (UNCTAD) of the 195 member states in Geneva, Rebeca Grynspan said that 72 percent of global trade “still takes place under WTO rules” – a reference to the World Trade Organization, whose agreements are negotiated and signed by trading nations.

“We have so far avoided the domino effect of rising tariffs that brought the global economy to its knees in the 1930s.” Grynspan told UNCTAD members gathered in Geneva to continue their efforts to lift millions of people out of poverty through trade.

“This didn’t happen by chance, it was because of you, because you continued to negotiate when it seemed futile, to defend a rules-based system even as you were on the verge of reforming it, and to build bridges even when they were falling.”

“Impossible choices”

The UNCTAD chief’s comments follow months of global economic uncertainty amid declarations of imposing tariffs on the United States’ trading partners.

In recent comments, Grynspan said rising tariffs, record debt repayments by heavily indebted countries and growing mistrust were all holding back development.

“A debt and development crisis still confronts countries with impossible choices“They must decide: default on their debt or on their development.”

Prices implemented by major economies, including the United States, have increased this year from an average of 2.8 percent to more than 20 percent, Ms. Grynspan recently told the United Nations General Assembly. “Uncertainty is the highest tariff possible,” she said, adding that it “discourages investment, slows growth and makes trade as a development path much more difficult.”

Investments dry up

In Geneva, UNCTAD’s top economist warned that global investment flows were falling for the second year in a row, “eroding tomorrow’s growth.”

At the same time, the current investment system favors projects in richer economies rather than developing countries, she continued, with one-off costs responsible for making a US dollar “three times more expensive in Zambia than in Zurich”.

Ms Grynspan also stressed that transport costs are now “too volatile” with landlocked countries and small island developing states facing transport bills “up to three times the global average”.

And while AI offers the prospect of adding “trillions” to global GDP, the UNCTAD secretary-general added that fewer than one in three developing countries have strategies to take advantage of it. According to UN data, 2.6 billion people remain offline, most of them women living in developing countries.

Public debt crisis

Echoing Ms. Grynspan’s concerns, the President of the General AssemblyAnnalena Baerbock, warned that developing countries’ debt reached $31 billion last year.

This means that instead of being able to invest in the future of their people “by building more schools or expanding health facilities, many governments are spending precious funds servicing debt.”

Confidence in the international system is also “eroding,” continued the President of the United Nations General Assembly. She noted that even though the global economy is worth more than $100 trillion a year, one in two people have seen “little or no increase in income in a generation.”