Giving Compass' Take:

• Let's look on the bright side! The United Nations Foundation identifies several news stories from around the world that may have flown under the radar in 2018, but should give us all hope for a better future.

• From the end of conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea to a decrease in extreme poverty, there's plenty to celebrate. How can we redouble our philanthropic efforts in 2019 to keep up the momentum?

• Here's a closer look at the Sustainable Development Goals, including where progress has been made.

2018 was a rough year. Communities across the globe experienced the real and worsening effects of climate change; conflict continued to displace a record number of families; and refugees, migrants, and minorities continued to be scapegoated for economic, political, and social instability.

But this year also ushered in some positive developments — and many of these stories didn’t make the headlines. While it may not make the news, time and again, we’ve seen that collective action leads to global progress.

So here’s the good news you might have missed in 2018:

  1. In June, Paraguay became the first country in the Americas in nearly 50 years to be declared free of malaria.
  2. This year, after more than two decades of hostility, Ethiopia and Eritrea formally declared an end to their longstanding conflict.
  3. For the first time since the World Bank began collecting global statistics, the percentage of people living in extreme poverty has fallen below 10% — down from 36% in 1990.
  4.  In April, the UN formally ended its peacekeeping operation in Liberia following a landmark election that led to the country’s first transfer of power from one elected president to another in almost 75 years.
  5. In 2018, more women around the world ascended to positions of power. Ethiopia elected its first female president. The UN achieved achieved gender parity among its leadership for the first time. Americans elected more women to U.S. Congress than any other period in the country’s history.

Read the full article about good news stories you may have missed in 2018 at United Nations Foundation.