Right-wing propaganda and anti-democratic policies are spreading; international cooperation is more difficult than it has been for a long time. Is the zeitgeist undermining the Sustainable Development Goals? Imme Scholz, president of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, played a leading role in drafting the most recent Global Sustainable Development Report. In this interview, she discusses political resistance and where we go from here.

Born during South Sudan’s struggle for independence, twin sisters Anna and Lily Nadai now live almost 12,000 kilometres apart. Their story is full of disruptions and new beginnings. It shows how lives can begin identically but unfold completely differently as a result of global upheavals – and how people come to terms with it.

The two pieces of good news this month are about promising applications of artificial intelligence and the establishment of the African Space Agency.

Patriarchy grants men privileges, but it also comes with norms and expectations that inflict serious harm on their mental and physical health. Oluyinka Ojedokun, professor of psychology in Nigeria and South Africa, explains why it is in African men’s interests to actively participate in redefining masculinity: not merely to promote gender equality for women’s sake, but also to improve their own individual and collective wellbeing.

From ousting dictators to challenging global systems, African youth movements are setting standards for democracies worldwide. Their struggle for dignity, accountability and social justice provides important insights for a world grappling with political disillusionment and anti-democratic regimes.

Exceeding the emissions threshold by 2026 is likely, making a post-1.5°C world inevitable. Governments face some hard choices in the coming year and beyond

In Bolivia, the civil-society organisation Centro Juana Azurduy campaigns for gender equality – and to this end also works with men charged with violence against women. Therapy teaches them new ways of viewing gender roles that don’t involve violence.

After the violent chaos that followed Tanzania’s October elections, a growing number of voices is calling for a new constitution – one that would curb the influence of the powerful political-business elite, distribute power more equitably among the three branches of government and grant citizens the right to remove unresponsive and incompetent leaders at all levels of elected office.

When authoritarians are on the rise, it’s bad news for women’s rights: Macarena Sáez of Human Rights Watch explains why the fight for women’s autonomy is also a fight for democracy – and how women around the world are uniting to move forward.

Patriarchy grants men privileges, but it also comes with norms and expectations that inflict serious harm on their mental and physical health. Oluyinka Ojedokun, professor of psychology in Nigeria and South Africa, explains why it is in African men’s interests to actively participate in redefining masculinity: not merely to promote gender equality for women’s sake, but also to improve their own individual and collective wellbeing.

The two pieces of good news this month are about more people gaining access to safe drinking water and four countries being declared free of the neglected tropical disease trachoma.

US President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze foreign aid has restricted access to HIV therapies in South Africa, particularly for undocumented migrants and other marginalised people. A dangerous black market has sprung up as a result.

Autocracies work together worldwide to stay in power. They flood the public sphere with targeted disinformation in order to destroy democratic discourse and impose their own narrative on the world, as Anne Applebaum argues in her book “Autocracy, Inc.”.

With little being done to clean the skies over New Delhi, the huge city struggles with toxic air.