Melissa Fleming: UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications
What happens when people stop believing in international cooperation?
As humanitarian needs continue to rise, international aid is facing an unprecedented crisis of confidence. Public trust is eroding, misinformation is spreading faster than facts, and global institutions are increasingly challenged in their ability to mobilize collective action.
In this episode of Voices of Development, Salomé Ponsin-Louette welcomes Melissa Fleming, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications.
Before joining the UN Secretariat, Melissa spent more than a decade as Head of Global Communications and spokesperson for UNHCR, following senior communication roles at the IAEA and the OSCE. She is also the host of the award-winning Awake at Night podcast, where she explores the human stories behind global crises, through insights from the people that make up the United Nations.
Together, we discuss one of the defining challenges of our time: the battle for trust.
Why are some crises constantly in the spotlight while others remain invisible? How does misinformation reshape humanitarian action? Can international institutions still influence public opinion in an increasingly fragmented and polarized world? And how do we continue speaking about human suffering when so many people have stopped listening?
From information integrity and geopolitics to public trust and the future of multilateralism, this conversation explores the power of narratives in shaping not only how we understand global crises, but also how we choose to respond to them.
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