How to save humanity from climate breakdown with Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
Release Date: 01/17/2025
Why I’m still an obstinate optimist, with Allegra Baiocchi - UN Resident Coordinator in Mexico
Awake At Night
Born to Italian parents in Venezuela, Allegra Baiocchi has been on the move ever since and has lived in more than 25 countries around the world. Now UN Resident Coordinator in Mexico, she believes in the power of the United Nations to improve the well-being of all people, wherever they are. “I am truly an optimist. I do think we can turn this around, but it does need a lot of people taking action, and so I stay awake at night trying to figure out how to get people to act.” Formerly the UN’s chief humanitarian coordinator for western and central Africa, Allegra Baiocchi faced down...
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Launching a new life from a refugee camp, with Mary Maker - UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador
Awake At Night
War is Mary Maker’s earliest memory. Born in South Sudan and named Nyiriak — meaning "war" — she spent her youth living and working in one of the world’s largest refugee camps. Now a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, she is raising her voice on behalf of those she left behind, helping refugee students land scholarships to top universities. “I want to be seen. I want to be heard. I want to be acknowledged. I want to be at the table, making decisions and feeling like a part of something. Are you able to see us? Are you? Are you able to go beyond the news and...
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Building the Foundations for Human Dignity, with Jorge Moreira da Silva - Executive Director of UNOPS, the United Nations Office for Project Services
Awake At Night
Fighting for and believing in change is in Jorge Moreira da Silva’s blood. Now executive director of UNOPS, the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), the former Portuguese minister is helping to improve lives. From restoring roads and repairing power plants to running health centres and constructing renewable energy mini-grids, UNOPS implements projects in more than 130 countries – often in fragile and conflict-affected settings. “It's about providing social basic human needs. We have found a way to provide livelihoods to 15 million people in Afghanistan...rehabilitating...
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Overcoming trauma in the service of peace, with Elpida Rouka - Senior political affairs officer, Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria
Awake At Night
Elpida Rouka’s first name means hope in Greek, a feeling that can sometimes be elusive when serving in the most troubled places on earth. Currently a senior political affairs officer in Geneva, she is a survivor of the 2003 Baghdad Canal Hotel bombing, the deadliest attack in UN history. “First you feel the shake, and the light, and then the blast, the sound comes. I blacked out between exiting the building, but when I was out, there was just a scene of a massacre. The only thing I recall after that was being thrown a phone and told: ‘Call your parents, now.’” Humanitarian workers...
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Lighting Libya’s long path to peace, with Hanna Tetteh - Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya and UNSMIL Head
Awake At Night
Former Ghanian Foreign Minister Hanna Tetteh knows first hand the responsibility that comes from being an elected politician. Now head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, she draws on that experience as she works to get the nation onto a peaceful and democratic footing. “I have to be optimistic. Otherwise I'll stop. And I think that when you're doing this kind of job, you have to keep yourself optimistic. You always have to find openings and entry points and try to see what you can work with and where you can create some opportunity to have a conversation that results in some...
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The force of good is much stronger than the force of evil, with Kelly Clements - UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner
Awake At Night
From Bangladesh to Kosovo, Syria to Sudan, Kelly Clements has spent more than 30 years helping to save lives during some of the biggest refugee and humanitarian crises in recent times. Now the outgoing Deputy High Commissioner at the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, she’s making an impassioned case for a more humane world. “How can we convince those that continue to wage wars that continue to treat people badly? How can we show what's possible with a little hope, compassion, and more peace? The force of good is much stronger than the force of evil.” Global refugee needs are surging as wealthy...
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Why peace begins with people, not power, with Bintou Keita - Former UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative DRC
Awake At Night
Bintou Keita knows instinctively that some moments call for a more human response than words alone can offer. Once, at a ceremony to mark the end of the devastating Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, she found herself hesitating to deliver her pre-prepared statement to a grief-stricken crowd. “I have my statement, but I can't deliver [it] because there's something else I have to do before. And in that moment, what came to me was humming, so I did it. And at that moment, the tears - my own, the tears in the audience - came out. These people were grieving, were still mourning.”...
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Youth, power and possibility, with Felipe Paullier - UN Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs
Awake At Night
A medical doctor by training, Dr. Felipe Paullier is a passionate advocate for young people. Two years ago, aged just 32, his life took a new turn when he became the first-ever Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs, the youngest senior appointment in the history of the United Nations. “Leaving young people at the sidelines of how we find solutions is not the way. It's really bringing them [in], because on many of the things, the solutions will come from them.” The UN Youth Office believes that positive change is rooted in empowering young people to meaningfully...
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How to lead forces for peace, with Cheryl Pearce - The UN's Acting Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations
Awake At Night
After enlisting at 18, Cheryl Pearce battled rigid gender barriers to rise through the military ranks. Now the UN’s Acting Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations, the Australian-born Lieutenant General is the highest ranking woman in uniform within the United Nations. “Peace for me, is seeing communities having food security, having water security, education, knowing, you know, as a mum myself, knowing that my children can grow up to feel like that. They can have a life and a future and fulfill their dreams and goals.” Lieutenant General Pearce knows what it takes to...
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Fighting hunger in a world of plenty, with Jean-Martin Bauer - Director, Food Security and Nutrition Analysis, World Food Programme (WFP)
Awake At Night
Jean-Martin Bauer was just a teenager when a visit to his uncle’s Haitian rice farm planted the seed of his life-long passion for food security. Now Director of Food Security and Nutrition Analysis at the World Food Programme (WFP) he works to feed hungry people worldwide. “Even now, even during these dark times … there are opportunities to sow seeds for a better future.” The world faces a global hunger crisis, with a record 319 million people currently not getting enough to eat. The author of a recent book on hunger in the Twenty-First Century, Jean-Martin Bauer reflects...
info_outlineCeleste Saulo has always been fascinated by the weather. Now Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), she is seeing climate breakdown warp global weather systems beyond recognition, with devastating impacts on countless lives and livelihoods.
“We can see how many people are suffering…We can see that people are running out of food, are running out of water, and the real narrative is that this will affect everyone sooner or later.”
The United Nations Secretary General has issued a red alert for the planet after a full decade of record-breaking heat driven by human activity. In this episode, Celeste Saulo reflects on our shared responsibility to future generations, on an emotional meeting with the Pope, and on why she can never give up hope.
“If you work with youth, you need to have hope, because for me, it's not fair not having hope… We need to work along the lines we believe are better opportunities for them, and we need to engage them, and I would say, to follow them.”