UNFPA: Hold On a Minute

UNFPA works towards a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. In Asia and the Pacific that work runs up against a quieter obstacle than policy: the sense, shaped by social and cultural norms, that life simply follows a set path and there is no choice to make.

The Asia-Pacific Regional Office wanted a content platform that could amplify its work and partnerships across a diverse region, reach audiences who would never read a UN report, and do it in a voice that invited reflection rather than instruction.

The creative idea was a pause. Hold On a Minute asks listeners to stop and re-examine the path they assume they are on, then offers an alternative through the real stories of midwives, advocates and young change-makers who made different, better-informed decisions. The title doubles as the show's structure: each episode holds a moment and turns it over.

Ruder Finn Era's Thailand team produced the series end to end, from editorial development with UNFPA regional experts through recording and post-production to episode artwork, social content and distribution across podcast platforms and YouTube. Guests included UNFPA regional advisers and frontline practitioners such as midwifery educators, giving the stories both authority and warmth.