Museum for the United Nations – UN Live is a borderless museum for people everywhere. We harness the power of popular culture to spark global action and cultivate a sense of shared belonging—a Global We. 

In 2022, we launched Global We, a live dialogue and  listenning platform connecting people across geographies, generations, and perspectives. Through conversations from portals around the world, we listen and learn about diverse ideas for cultural engagement across the world and we create space for meaningful exchange on the issues that shape our lives and our planet. 

A sense of global belonging

  • A sense of belonging, ultimately, comes from a feeling of connection, whether to a person, a place, a community or a cause. We aim to connect people everywhere, both to each other and to global issues. A feeling of global belonging - a ‘Global We’. 

    Seeing oneself as part of a wave of collective, global positive change - a ‘Global We’ is a crucially important step towards shaping a hopeful future.

  • In its simplest form, portals are repurposed shipping containers that are equipped with large screens and high-quality audio to create immersive experiences, enabling eye-to-eye, life-size conversations between participants in distant parts of the world, who feel as though they are in the same room.  

    • 2900+ conversations 

    • 10000+ participants  

    • 1.5 million+ online engagements  

    • Hundreds of self-reported action commitments 

    • Improved understanding of global connectivity 

    • Increased levels of global empathy 

Building global empathy across borders

To establish these conversations across borders, cultures and socio-economic backgrounds, we have built a network of ‘global portals,’ in collaboration with our execution partner, Shared Studios. Working with local facilitators and advisors, we create space for meaningful conversations across locations and people – in a myriad of ways.  

This first phase of the programme since November 2022 has laid the groundwork for a worldwide institution that builds upon the power of museums to spark, exhibit and continue, a global conversation – across a whole range of themes. We do so in a way that is true to our mission: radically inclusive, global in scope, and in service of the work and values of the United Nations. We will also ensure that those in formal “leadership” positions, both within and outside the United Nations, have access to this global conversation, especially as active listeners.   

By doing so, UN Live, in collaboration with partners, aim to facilitate the world’s largest, most inclusive, and longest conversation – all with the goal of building global empathy and action across borders, and therefore hastening the notion of our common agenda, solidarity, and sustainability – at scale.   Global We for Climate Action is supported by the IKEA Foundation and the Augustinus Foundation.

Map of our portal network

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Portal flexibility

  • Facilitated conversations

    Working together with MIT Cortico and 20 globally distributed facilitators across the portal network, we have developed conversation guides for facilitators to invite deep human connections around topics that matter to people.

    Watch video

  • Amplifying voices across the world

    Through our movable portals, we capture conversations, analyse them, and help bring the perspectives and the overarching trends to the ‘formal leaders’ of the world. See conversations that took place during COP27 in Sharm El-Sheik.

    Watch video

  • Workshops

    Upcycling and skill-sharing workshops have been a huge success. Portal participants have shared insights on a broad range of topics, such as ways to turn waste-products into new products. Our Global We portals continue to play a key role in sustainable innovation.

    Watch video

Harnessing a unique combination of deep human listening and artificial intelligence 

In collaboration with Cortico and MIT Center for Constructive Communication, UN Live has gathered over 2,900 lived experiences from recorded conversations on climate change and other global issues across 25 locations since November 2022. This growing collection forms the largest recorded climate dialogue to date—supporting a more authentic and inclusive global narrative.

Read more about the collection here.


A public page is now available with identified themes and patterns from the conversations. 

Explore website
Explore website

Join the
Global We

  • As a participant, you will connect with people from different locations across the globe in a discussion on climate. Each month we initiate one question to spark conversation, such as: “What does home mean to you?” or “What makes you hopeful?”

  • Co-creator partners are local organisations with concept ideas for conversations. They are expected to work with our local facilitators to co-create session concepts that can run in the portal. Co-creator partners can be local NGOs, local affiliations of global/regional NGOs, local institutions, cultural organisations, youth groups.

  • Community engagement partners are an important part of the Global We network and leverage their networks to engage a high volume of local participants who can take part in Global We conversations. Community engagement partners can be local NGOs, local affiliations of global/regional NGOs, local institutions, cultural organisations, youth groups, tribes or media outlets, community engagement channels etc.

  • Host site partners have the ability to provide the physical space for either an indoor or outdoor portal. Host sites must have an existing role as a meeting spot for the local community, well-connected to the target audience(s). Host sites can be museums, co-working spaces, universities or other institutions that are widely accessible to all people.

We want to include as many people as possible in the Global We conversation; that means you and your community. If you are interested to learn more or want to engage with the programme, please reach out to us at: info@museumfortheun.org

  • It made me dream more of collaborating with other initiatives - trade knowledge with my colleagues and exchange practices to improve our territories.

    Calú Narcizo - Santos, Brazil

  • I learnt that there is so many little actions that we can do as a person to create better future. And everything starts from ourselves.

    Anastasia Sulemantoro - Jakarta, Indonesia

  • On one of the connections I had invited a friend and immediately after the session we made the decision to start our own NGO in Kenya to support climate action.

    Sherie Gakii - Nairobi, Kenya

  • It was amazing to connect with people around the world in this way.

    Elize Rostant - Barbados, St. Peter

  • I am very grateful for having the chance to hear stories and perspectives from for example refugee camps that I didn't know anything about, and from daily issues experienced globally. It really opened my mind, as well as enhanced my empathy and curiosity about travelling, learning and building communities.

    Mar Posada Sánchez - Colombia, Medellín