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The cost-of-living crisis is suffocating vulnerable people everywhere. COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine have created lasting damage to the global economy, particularly in developing countries that have seen their public debt increase much faster than wealthier nations, at the expense of investment in desperately needed infrastructure projects. Today, half of humanity lives in countries forced to spend more on debt payments than on health and education. In support of the UN’s Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance and in association with the UN Trade and Development body, UNCTAD, this social media video series produced by UNTV Geneva shows the human face of the economic crunch. It features moving personal stories from Peru, Sri Lanka and Tunisia, and reactions from the experts working on a coordinated response to alleviate the suffering of millions.

Hard Choices | Ukraine

Twenty-four-year-old Yevhen has a 350-acre farm where he grows wheat, corn, potatoes and more, in the heart of the world’s breadbasket: western Ukraine. We meet Yevhen as he struggles to sell his “winter wheat”, while millions of tonnes of grain remain trapped in silos along the coastline. There is good news from Odesa as the Black Sea Grain Initiative slowly enables more wheat to leave the country, but will relief come soon enough for Yevhen? Meanwhile, skyrocketing fuel and fertilizer prices are jeopardizing his future production and all his efforts to modernize the farm. How will his family get through the season?

Hard Choices | Tunisia 

Traditional baker Najwa has supported her family single-handed since her husband became too sick to work. She makes little enough money as it is from her few clients, but shortages of semolina flour, cooking oil and even firewood mean that on some days, she makes nothing at all. As she kneads the heavy dough by hand in the stifling heat of the day, Najwa worries how she and her family will survive if her bread-making business dries up.

Hard Choices | Peru

First came Covid, threatening to slow down Ricardo's trucks. Then, the war in Ukraine sent the price of fuel sky-high: Ricardo’s fleet counts 17 vehicles, but only 10 are still running. Out of his four branches, he’s had to shut down two, and 17 people have lost their jobs. Ricardo has been able to join forces with the Peruvian Food Bank and the World Food Programme to deliver food to the most vulnerable. But will this new opportunity allow him to keep his business afloat?

Hard Choices | Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has defaulted on its debt and is struggling with its worst financial crisis in generations. Tea picker Nagamma, who belongs to one of Sri Lanka’s most marginalized communities, works long days at Blue Field Tea estate in the country’s central mountainous region, but her income keeps shrinking because of the financial crisis. She cannot afford to buy enough food to feed her family, nor the gas to cook it, and fears for the future of her children. How will Nagamma's tea make it to the port of Colombo to be sold abroad - and what expenses will she have to cut from her already tight household budget?