I am so fortunate to be able to do the work I do. Inspiring others, engaging my community, empowering youth, and educating citizens about children’s issues is not just a job for me, it is my passion!
As a UNICEF Global Citizenship Fellow, I did all these things and more. I gave presentations on issues ranging from water and sanitation to the importance of girls’ education, hosted events with UNICEF Campus Initiative members, and promoted Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF and TeachUNICEF. But I will never forget the day I spoke in front of an audience of 600 Rotarians at the United Nations.

This Sunday is a very special day for us here at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. It’s World Humanitarian Day–a day that honors humanitarian workers around the world, created in memory of the 22 UN staff members who died in the 2003 bombing of UN headquarters in Iraq. But WHD is also a day to honor all people who help others. And that’s where everyone can get involved. In the spirit of this special day, the UN and Beyoncé (yes, that Beyoncé), along with other global organizations, are asking everyone to do two things: Do something good for someone somewhere, and inspire the world to do the same.

UNICEF is keenly aware of the importance of transparency and accountability to all who support its lifesaving work for children. In that spirit, UNICEF’s Executive Board recently approved a proposal to make publicly available on UNICEF’s website all internal audits published after September 30, 2012. Although UNICEF already has been providing internal audits to UN Member States upon request since 2009, these audits have not been available to the public. Now UNICEF will create a special “accountability and transparency” section at its site for the internal audit reports.

At a press conference this morning, Mark Bowden, a UN humanitarian coordinator, said that famine conditions now exist in the Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions of Somalia. He warned: “If we don’t act now, famine will spread to all eight regions of southern Somalia within two months, due to poor harvests and infectious disease outbreaks… Every day of delay in assistance is literally a matter of life or death for children and their families in the famine-affected areas.”

Last week the UN General Assembly held a High Level Meeting on AIDS. I attended a program looking at progress over the past 10 years since the original United Nations Special Session on HIV/AIDS.

Today begins the UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS, which will bring together approximately 3,000 people-including 30 heads-of-state-who are working to forge a future free of AIDS