Erika Souklaye
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erikasouklaye.bsky.social
Erika Souklaye
@erikasouklaye.bsky.social
51 followers 38 following 25 posts
Strategic communications and social innovation UNDP, former UNHCR. Soon over to @uncdf.bsky.social. One foot near an olive tree the other in Brooklyn. #SDGs #finance4dev
Posts Replies Media Videos
erikasouklaye.bsky.social
The fact that winter solstice is trending here makes me think it’s the right place to be! ✨
a man and a woman are jumping in the air in a living room .
ALT: a man and a woman are jumping in the air in a living room .
media.tenor.com
December 21, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Reposted by Erika Souklaye
ketanjoshi.co
I feel like this got missed? Time Magazine (!!) is partnering with a gambling company to integrate instant betting on news events, such as the genocide in Gaza (!!!!!!)

The rate of collapse of media is absolutely blistering. Support your independent media outlets folks.....

archive.ph/wip/kgyIz
Galactic will power prediction market capabilities for TIME as it becomes one of the first global media brands to leverage socially powered, data-driven markets to drive innovative audience engagement TIME is partnering with Galactic, the preferred prediction-markets partner for media brands, creator networks, and community platforms, powering Predictor.io—a social, infrastructure platform that transforms real-world events into simple, user-friendly markets.This innovative partnership facilitates a critical reimagination of how Predictors—consumers who engage with the platform—interact with content, allowing them to interpret, engage, and act as events unfold. “With TIME, we are blending established media with prediction markets to establish a new normal for readers and content consumers—giving them the opportunity to participate in where the future is going,” said Stuart Stott, CEO of Galactic. “Galactic is laser-focused on supporting the growth of this rapidly evolving industry, and collaborating with media partners like TIME provides a powerful, trusted, and engaging new way to catalyze prediction market growth.” “TIME is driven by our ambition to continue to push the boundaries of traditional media to ensure our content and audience experience is compelling, accurate, and evolving,” said TIME Chief Operating Officer Mark Howard. “The launch of prediction markets in partnership with Galactic enables us to engage readers in new ways that reflect TIME’s innovative spirit.” Predictor.io turns news, culture, and live events into interactive, data-driven experiences. Paired with TIME’s globally renowned legacy, Predictor.io, which operates independently from TIME’s newsroom, will create a channel for real-time market data that drives engagement. Predictors will be able to engage with dynamic, story-driven content and an AI-powered interactive experience that helps them explore, interpret, and predict what happens next. The experience is designed to inform, inspire, and empower Predictors to take part in the future, not just watch it unfold. The strategic partnership marks a pivotal step forward for prediction markets as they attract growing recognition and interest from some of the world’s largest media brands. As the media landscape evolves with shifting consumer preferences, prediction markets provide a pioneering opportunity for media companies to deliver compelling content driven by quantitative assumptions and to offer Predictors a unique way to interact with content. TIME’s prediction market platform, powered by Galactic, is scheduled to launch early 2026. ability to bet on ceasire in gaza why it matters
December 10, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by Erika Souklaye
uncdf.bsky.social
Climate finance works when it reaches the last mile.💧

For 84-year-old Nayon Tara Chakma, life meant climbing steep hills every morning just to collect water.

Thanks to a locally led, solar-powered water system, safe water is now at her doorstep.

https://pulse.ly/ys0jkwg7cn
Driving capital to the local level brings vital services to remote villages in Bangladesh
a locally devised investment in a solar-powered water system has brought water to Chakma’s door. This basic but vital infrastructure investm...
pulse.ly
December 8, 2025 at 8:27 PM
erikasouklaye.bsky.social
Check out how we’re investing in women led businesses in the Pacific. It’s not aid, it’s about agency.
uncdf.bsky.social UN Capital Development Fund @uncdf.bsky.social · 20d
From grants to guarantees, catalytic finance is transforming access for women entrepreneurs in PNG.⚡

UNCDF’s support to Mama Bank has enabled biometric tech pilots, rural outreach & $800K in loans for women-owned MSMEs.

📺 Watch the full video ➡️ https://pulse.ly/8zhhsh3d5t
How UNCDF Helped Build Papua New Guinea’s First Women’s Bank
In Papua New Guinea, access to finance remains one of the biggest barriers for small businesses, especially those led by women and youth.That’s where Mama Ba...
pulse.ly
December 5, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Reposted by Erika Souklaye
uncdf.bsky.social
UNCDF welcomes Alexander De Croo as UNDP Administrator and UNCDF Managing Director.

Together, UNDP and UNCDF bridge policy ambition with capital, de-risking markets, mobilizing private finance, and expanding inclusion in LDCs and SIDS.

www.uncdf.org/managing-dir...
Alexander De Croo
Alexander de Croo is the Managing Director of UNCDF. He is also serving as UNDP’s Administrator as of 2 December 2025.
www.uncdf.org
December 2, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Reposted by Erika Souklaye
uncdf.bsky.social
What happens when catalytic finance reaches early-stage agribusinesses?

For Ziweto in Malawi:

📈 30% revenue growth
💼 Youth jobs
📦 Stronger supply chains
🌍 National expansion

Watch their story ➡️ youtu.be/OKIG6uY3HDk?...
From Local Startup to Stock Exchange Listing | Ziweto’s Story
YouTube video by UN Capital Development Fund
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 8:13 PM
erikasouklaye.bsky.social
Proud we are.
Action driven we remain. Let’s invest in ocean-positive businesses in the countries where no one else wants to invest.
#LDCs #SIDS #COP30 #Ocean #OceanFinance
uncdf.bsky.social UN Capital Development Fund @uncdf.bsky.social · Nov 18
At #COP30, UNCDF is proud to join the Ocean Action 2030 Coalition, strengthening global efforts to scale ocean-positive investment. 🌊

With catalytic and blended finance, UNCDF unlocks capital for regenerative blue economies.

Learn more ➡️ uncdf.live/ocean2030
November 19, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Reposted by Erika Souklaye
uncdf.bsky.social
In Ghana, UNCDF is showing how local finance drives national resilience.

Through catalytic investments and training, 13 districts now manage climate funds that have reached over one million people.

🌱 Mary’s story shows it’s working. #COP30

uncdf.live/cop-ghana
Putting people first: Investing in locally led climate-smart solutions in Ghana
Mary Ocansey is a climate-smart smallholder farmer based just outside the Ghanaian capital of Accra, in Ada East District. She used to strug...
uncdf.live
November 11, 2025 at 9:57 PM
erikasouklaye.bsky.social
Buy their full content on a usb stick. Best gift ever. Available on the Wikimedia Foundation website.
tiny.baby tinybaby @tiny.baby · Oct 1
Better download Wikipedia now
October 2, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Reposted by Erika Souklaye
libertyhq.bsky.social
🚨 Police in Bedfordshire are working with tech giant Palantir to develop a surveillance network that will incorporate people's personal information...

...including health records, sex lives, and political opinions

Read the full story libertyinvestigates.org.uk/articles/uk-...
July 9, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by Erika Souklaye
uncdf.bsky.social
Meet us tomorrow in Seville! 🇪🇸

#DYK 👉🏾 UNCDF is the only #UN entity with a capital mandate? We provide catalytic financing through grants, concessional loans & guarantees to public & private sector

Learn about us ahead of #FFD4 & see where we'll be speaking: uncdf.org/uncdf-at-ffd4

@undp.org
June 29, 2025 at 3:02 PM
erikasouklaye.bsky.social
Chalk on pavement beats fancy YouTube ads today.
#nyc #mamdani
June 25, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Reposted by Erika Souklaye
alberto-cottica.mastodon.green.ap.brid.gy
Good news/bad news from the upcoming 2030 reform of the UN's Standard for National Accounting.

Good news: extraction of non-renewable resources such as oil, gas and minerals are to be counted as a negative component of GDP. GDP of petrostates goes down.

Bad news: crypto assets, crypto mining […]
Original post on mastodon.green
mastodon.green
June 9, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Reposted by Erika Souklaye
strandjunker.com
Been saying this for awhile, but will repeat it for emphasis: If you love freedom but don’t care if it applies to everyone, what you actually love is privilege.
May 30, 2025 at 7:38 PM
erikasouklaye.bsky.social
"The current global financial system is simply not working for Africa"

Read below our (modest yet ambitious) contribution to fixing it. 👇
uncdf.bsky.social UN Capital Development Fund @uncdf.bsky.social · May 28
🌍Africa holds immense potential, but perceptions of risk still block capital from reaching where it's needed most.

Ahead of #FfD4, UNCDF's Transactional Risk Specialist, Charulata Singal, explores how we can shift this with #blendedfinance ➡️ uncdf.link/8904
May 28, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Reposted by Erika Souklaye
riksredguard.bsky.social
I have waited my whole life, for this moment....
April 28, 2025 at 7:05 PM
erikasouklaye.bsky.social
Immensely proud to see the very clear role @uncdf.bsky.social plays to unlock opportunities and make capital flow in places largely considered unbankable.

Have a read and reach out!
#developmentfinance #blendedfinance #missingmiddle
uncdf.bsky.social UN Capital Development Fund @uncdf.bsky.social · Apr 11
What happens when markets are too fragile, and risk too high— even for concessional capital?

🔗 bit.ly/4ih3OrU 👉 a powerful reflection by our Executive Secretary, inspired by a @financialtimes.com op-ed by World Bank President Ajay Banga.
April 11, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Erika Souklaye
uncdf.bsky.social
What happens when markets are too fragile, and risk too high— even for concessional capital?

🔗 bit.ly/4ih3OrU 👉 a powerful reflection by our Executive Secretary, inspired by a @financialtimes.com op-ed by World Bank President Ajay Banga.
April 11, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Erika Souklaye
ketanjoshi.co
Wikipedia's rising bandwidth due to AI scraping. It's sending their infrastructure costs through the roof and threatening the free availability of information.

www.linkedin.com/posts/maciej...
A chart showing rising bandwidth from 2024 onwards
April 10, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Erika Souklaye
jonathancohn.bsky.social
"Amazon, Microsoft and Google are operating datacentres that use vast amounts of water in some of the world’s driest areas and are building many more, an investigation by SourceMaterial and the Guardian has found." www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Revealed: Big tech’s new datacentres will take water from the world’s driest areas
Amazon, Google and Microsoft are building datacentres in water-scarce parts of five continents
www.theguardian.com
April 9, 2025 at 4:11 PM
erikasouklaye.bsky.social
And so it is starting.
March 14, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Reposted by Erika Souklaye
melissafleming.un.org
“One by one, human rights are being suffocated... by autocrats, warmongers & voices of division & anger who view human rights not as a boon to humanity, but as a barrier to the power, profit & control they seek.”
- António Guterres UN Secretary General
news.un.org/en/story/202...
World’s ‘warmongers’ must end disdain for global order, UN chief insists
With no end to numerous protracted conflicts - not least in Ukraine, three years to the day since the full-scale Russian invasion - UN chief António Guterres on Monday scorned the world’s “warmongers”...
news.un.org
February 24, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Reposted by Erika Souklaye
jksteinberger.bsky.social
As promised, here are the slides I shared with students to convince them to NOT use chatGPT and other artificial stupidity.

TL;DR? AI is evil, unsustainable and stupid, and I'd much rather they use their own brains, make their own mistakes, and actually learn something. 🪄
NO CHATGPT Or other artificial stupidity: motivation First, clarity on distinguishing AIs: Non-generative: grammar aid, translation, dictionary, text-to-audio (e.g. Natural Reader): no problem As long as you use the appropriate tools (least intensive in data and server energy use). Why? Because you provide the content. Your brain is doing the most important work Generative: ChatGPT & Co. You only supply the prompt, the AI supplies the content. Why is this delegation of work problematic? 3 domains: ethical, environmental, intellectual engagement. (Caveat: generative is probably ok for computer programming, where it can be useful and save time. Not relevant to this class.) 1) AI and ethics Mass theft of all and everything «learning» on books, articles, blogs, social media, images, music, cultural production, without permission of authors/creators, and leading to their mass joblessness. Profits are not reditributed to originators. Permanent destruction of the mental health of underpaid precarious tech workers in the Global South (Kenya, Philippines …): «correction» to avoid production of violent and pedophile contents etc, tech workers are obliged to watch and correct super violent contents for days on end, leading to extreme psychological suffering and trauma, from which recovery is doubtful. No or little compensation (certainly not at the level of the suffering inflicted). In short, an industry built on theft of real human creation and sacrifice of real human health, profiting a few megafortunes. 2) AI and (un)sustainability Massive consumption of electricity, water, server capacity for generative AI. Outcome: keep fossil fuel companies in business, using up new renewable capacity, without any satisfaction of basic human needs. Massive misappropriation of the finance necessary for climate and ecological action (renewable generation, efficiency and retrofit for buildings, public transit, infrastructures for cycling etc) towards AI industry. Overall: undermine climate action, reinforce fossil industry, waste resources necessary for human development. 3) AI and intellectual engagement First, what learning is (or should be) about: The goal should not (only) be the reproduction of «correct» knowledge, But mainly personal engagement and experience of thinking about topics of interest. Personal engagement = using one’s own brain. The most important activity for learning and intellectual engagement is the experience of making one’s own mistakes, by trial and error, corrections based on new ideas, starting over again. Learning to recognise nuances, knowledge gaps, better explanations This kind of learning is possible only through using your own brain, not AI. Also, Ais are not «intelligent». At all. They simply reproduce pre-existing patterns. They «bullshit», invent false references, false facts, false data, simply because those sound plausible. VERY DANGEROUS. If you learn how to NOT use AI, and how to research facts and data on your own, this will serve you and your communities for the rest of your life.
February 23, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Erika Souklaye
erosalie.infoepi.com
If anyone is documenting the pages going missing, I have a small database. I will not be taking it on long-term but am using it right now and am willing to hand it off to a relevant group. Pages as simple as Women in the Federal Workforce have gone missing.
FDA Office of Minority Health is gone.
January 27, 2025 at 7:13 AM
erikasouklaye.bsky.social
“a random word blender being used as a source of information.”
ketanjoshi.co Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · Feb 11
BBC tested a bunch of chatbots used as news source:

- 51% have issues with answers
- 19% fabricate fake statistics / info
- 13% fabricate fake quotes or alter them

This is exactly what you expect from a random word blender being used as a source of information.

www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/...
The answers produced by the AI assistants contained significant inaccuracies and distorted content from the BBC. In particular: • 51% of all AI answers to questions about the news were judged to have significant issues of some form. • 19% of AI answers which cited BBC content introduced factual errors – incorrect factual statements, numbers and dates. • 13% of the quotes sourced from BBC articles were either altered from the original source or not present in the article cited.
February 11, 2025 at 7:42 PM