Voice Mail UPU - Voice Mail

How can the art of writing be kept alive in an era when all communication is done digitally? Once indispensable for distance communication, letter writing used to serve as an important educational tool that developed children’s cognitive and creative capacities, teaching them how to organize and articulate their thoughts. As a more humane and empathetic means of exchange, letters also used to facilitate international connections in spite of differences – something the world increasingly needs today and which is harder to attain through digital messaging only.
Ahead of the UN Summit of the Future in September 2024, the UPU partnered with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to ask children from around the world about their vision of and hopes for the future through the UPU’s flagship International Letter-Writing Competition. Just a few weeks ahead of the deadline for submissions, the UPU sat with June Kunugi, Director of Public Partnerships at UNICEF, a professional journalist, and one of the competition’s jury members, to discuss how the initiative supports UNICEF’s mission to advocate for children’s rights.
In this latest episode of Voice Mail, Kunugi highlights how UNICEF’s engagement in the competition will help increase opportunities for children in the most disadvantaged and remote communities, how to turn the risks of technology into new opportunities for youth’s engagement and empowerment, and how we should all work together to ensure that the voice of every child is pronounced and listened to.

For its annual International Women’s Day special, Voice Mail has invited Stephanie Copus Campbell, Australia’s Ambassador for Gender Equality, to talk about her wide-ranging portfolio and how the postal sector plays into it.

Dr Léonard Laborie, Historian at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), UMR SIRICE, discusses how and why the UPU emerged as a forerunner of global connectivity, how it shaped and was shaped by international politics, and why cooperation among postal operators will remain the key to the organisation’s lasting vitality.

Technology and integration are redefining the postal market. In quest of ways to diversify their services and remain competitive, posts, big and small, are forging new partnerships and adopting unconventional, high-tech solutions which help them generate new revenue streams and improve customer experience.
In October 2023, the UPU brought together seasoned postal experts and senior executives within a new format of its World Leaders Forum to get a first-hand account of this new postal reality, the solutions that work and the challenges that remain. On the sidelines of the Forum, UPU Voice Mail host, Ian Kerr, spoke to postal CEOs and UPU Consultative Committee members about the future of logistics and how public-private collaboration can make it brighter for everyone.
On this special podcast edition, Tawnee Steinke, Head of Global Strategic Partnerships at Zonos, identifies three main trends that are going to change cross-border logistics; Charles Brewer, CEO of Pos Malaysia, shares his experience of pioneering green technologies in the country and driving change in the broader market; and Mariella Buisson, CEO of Seychelles Postal Services, explains how small postal operators can use technology to become a one-stop shop for citizens.

Patricia Lieberman, Head of Philately at Austrian Post, and Michael Dorner, CEO of a crypto stamp manufacturer and UPU Consultative Committee member, Stampfinity, recount the story behind the production of Austrian Post’s famous unicorn crypto stamp.

H.E. Anef Abanomi, President of Saudi Post, explains how the postal operator is turning into a touchpoint between government agencies, businesses and their customers, what digitalization has to do with it, and what hosting the global postal community means to the country.