Looking back at one of the most hands-on publications ever — six consecutive issues of the UNFPA Annual Report. I combed through hundreds of country reports seeking stories, highlighted measurable results and interviewed key staff year after year. Had to let it go when my toddlers went from walking to running.

Women and girls in humanitarian settings are in desperate need of supplies and services for safe birth and family planning. This presentation folder holds nine country examples of UNFPA-supported humanitarian action. I inherited drafts in need of updating and energy, then transformed the collection in time for a big event.

More than 1.3 million micro-merchants operate in Bangladesh today. While individually their businesses are small, together they transact more than $18.42 billion annually and interact with millions of customers every day. Yet they are an underserved cash-based group largely left out of modern digital payments and other financial services.

Edited this 125-page report for the H6 Partnership. The six UN agencies of this global health partnership are UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, World Health Organization and the World Bank Group.

Infographics make this report stand out. Copy editing in Word evolved into PDF rounds of revision. The report links the SDGs to UNDP-supported action to reduce the impact of climate change.

I applied my eye for detail to this report, providing copy editing in Word and then meticulous proofreading in PDF layout.  The United Nations Development Group unites the UN – funds, programmes, specialized agencies, departments and offices.

Developmental editing transformed programmatic reports into a collection of case studies about adolescent girls in disaster and conflict. Countries include Malawi, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Somalia.

Copy editing the SE4ALL Annual Report (yeah, that’s me on page iii) reminded me of my roots as a safe energy activist. This global agenda is about energy access, efficiency and renewables. It’s a partnership of the United Nations and the World Bank.

As editor of the first-ever UNDP corporate strategy on youth, I enjoyed working with staff who were genuinely excited about this publication. At right is a one-pager I created to capture the key points, also useful as a hand-out or mini-poster.

The “Ebola: from emergency to recovery” conference is taking place in Brussels today. My contribution is a 24-hour rush editing job of 14,630 words on the situation in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Country Offices provided the content, HQ hired the editor. Delivered cleaner and sharper text to a great designer. Eight brochures on the ICPD in Action from Benin, Belize, Brazil, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Jordan, Senegal and South Africa. Six brochures on gender-based violence prevention and response from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen.

Intensive copy editing and reference work is our contribution to the United Nations World Water Report 2014, supporting Pica Publishing. Did you know ‘abstraction’ means ‘extraction’ when it comes to water? We are back again this year with a focus on sustainability.