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Poverty, famine, terrorism. Just a few of the unresolved global

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problems we've tackled in this unit. What can we say, we like to keep things light [Bombs exploding]

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and happy around here. So how is the human race supposed to fix everything

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that's wrong in the world? We tried calling Batman for help, but he stopped [Red phone rings in Batman's cave]

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picking up after we prank called him for the fifteenth time. Jingle bells, Batman

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smells, Robin laid an egg. Yeah, he didn't like that at all. Enter the United

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Nations, better known as the UN. Sure, the UN is big and bureaucratic. Sure, the [A room filled with people in the United Nations]

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Security Council's design means that it's five permanent members were super

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important at the end of World War II, but, well, perhaps not so much today. But

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on the bright side, there's no parody Christmas carols to be found. And yes, [Batman stood beside his Batmobile]

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it's true that the Security Council has a hard time agreeing on anything, meaning

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that the UN sometimes fails to take action in a pressing crisis. However, the [Security Council in a meeting]

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UN does provide a forum for just about every country in the world to come

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together and attempt to maintain international peace and security, uphold

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international law, deliver humanitarian aid, and sing Kumbaya. Well, as we said [Members of the UN singing kumbaya with Putin]

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earlier, the UN is huge. While the organization as a whole kind of creeps

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along, its various arms are much better at kicking names and taking butt. For

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example, the World Food Programme fights hunger worldwide, while the World Bank [Man punched in the face]

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focuses on reducing poverty and providing money where it's needed most.

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All Batman does is, you know, fight clowns. But these are only two departments [The World Food Program building]

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within the UN. There are several more. Additionally, the UN relies on thousands

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of non-governmental organizations founded by idealistic college graduates [Guy graduating and walking across stage]

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with degrees in unemployable subjects to do its legwork. An NGO is a non-profit

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voluntary citizens group organized at the local, national, or international

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level. You can find an NGO for pretty much anything nowadays. Some of the ones [NGO yellow pages magazine appears on a table]

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you've probably heard of include Doctors Without Borders, the Energizer Bunny of

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NGOs, these guys keep going and going and going, even after accidentally getting

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bombed in a U.S. airstrike. They deliver medical care in some of the most remote [Bomb explodes at a hospital]

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and dangerous places on earth. Then there's Amnesty International, an NGO

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that's always on the lookout for human rights abuse. Its mission involves action,

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advocacy, and education, so that people know what human rights abuse actually [Chinese people discussing human rights]

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looks like. And these are just the big guys. There are also NGOs that build

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wells in small villages, NGOs that deliver dental care in developing [Person performing a dental procedure to a young boy]

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countries, and NGOs that provide immunization information to people via

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text message. In the end, it takes both massive bureaucracies like the UN and

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more nimble NGOs like Doctors Without Borders and Amnesty International [Planes fly banners over a building]

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working together to solve global problems. Maybe one of these days, you can

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whip out your superhero costume and join the fray. But not Batman, because we

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know his costume smells. [Man in a purple superhero costume and batman appears]

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