How to lead forces for peace, with Cheryl Pearce - The UN's Acting Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations
Release Date: 01/20/2026
Surviving war to fight for peace, with Ozonnia Ojielo - United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ethiopia
Awake At Night
As a child, Ozonnia Ojielo survived a brutal civil war in his native Nigeria in which starvation was used as a weapon. After training as a lawyer, an encounter with fellow survivors gave him new purpose and propelled him to his current role as the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ethiopia. “She started crying. All the other guests started crying. I started crying as well. There I was, a very successful lawyer making a lot of money. But I said to myself, this is much more valuable. Trying to change people's lives, or at least be there as a voice for them.” From Rwanda...
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Open the strait, with Arsenio Dominguez - Secretary-General of the United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO)
Awake At Night
Oil price surges have put international shipping in the spotlight in recent months. But what about the people behind the headlines? What happens to them when the news cycle moves on? “[Seafarers] feel forgotten because when they turn on the media, all the headlines are about how petrol is going up, how this is affecting the global economy, how things goes three, four times the price that normally they will pay for it, and nobody talks about the seafarer. We need more countries to recognize them as key workers.” With up to 90 percent of all goods globally transported by sea, the United...
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Use AI responsibly for a better world, with Tshilidzi Marwala - Rector, United Nations University (UNU)
Awake At Night
Growing up in rural South Africa, Tshilidzi Marwala first learned about engineering from his grandmother’s handmade clay pots. Now rector of the United Nations University, the Under-Secretary-General is a vocal advocate of using artificial intelligence (AI) for good. “I would not trust AI. You are not supposed to trust AI. You are supposed to use it, always doubt it, always verify what it tells you, cross validate, so that you can be able to use it responsibly.” Education has been a driving force throughout Tshilidzi Marwala’s life, alongside the seismic transitions he has...
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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.”...
info_outlineAfter 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 serve in some of the most difficult places on earth, from East Timor to Afghanistan. In this episode, she reflects on the sources of her mental and physical resilience, on making a robust case for peacekeeping in an age of disinformation, and shares why her family wants her to show her chaotic side once in a while.
Photos, transcript and more: https://www.un.org/en/awake-at-night/s12-cheryl-pearce-how-to-lead-forces-for-peace