What are the most effective tools in preventing and countering corruption? What connects anti-corruption to diplomacy and international relations? And which role does education and training play in this regard? Those are the main points and questions that UNITAR’s Executive Director and United Nations Assistant Secretary General Nikhil Seth and the Dean of the International Anti-Corruption Academy Dr. Thomas Stelzer discussed in the June edition of UN Today. The interview underlines the crucial role and immense importance of training and education in the fight against and the prevention of corruption. Only through the creation of specialized agencies and institutions, as well as multilateral and diplomatic efforts such as the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), combined with effective training and education in the field, true attitudinal and behavioural shifts can be achieved and lead to long-term positive impacts.

1 June 2021, Geneva, Switzerland – Working in the post-COVID space we find ourselves in involves interconnectedness from all over the world. As this year has passed, we have overcome the challenges presented to us by the coronavirus through resilience, creativity, and innovation. Alongside this global realignment, UNITAR’s professional and learning solutions have evolved to ensure quality content delivery, regardless of obstacles. 

On 27th May 2021, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), which is a partner in the EU-funded Crowd4SDG project, organised a panel discussion “Unleashing the potential of citizen science data for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” as part of the Crowd4SDG project. The panel had a two-fold objective – to disseminate emerging good practices among National Statistical Offices (NSOs) and National Statistical Systems (NSSs) on leveraging citizen science for monitoring progress on SDGs and related national and local level objectives, and to create space for discussing the needs of NSOs that could be addressed through concrete citizen science projects using a challenge-based approach. Aligned with this objective, the event was conducted in two parts. The first part focussed on the key findings and recommendations from the Crowd4SDG study and case studies on the use of citizen science data for monitoring SDGs. This was followed by the presentation of Crowd4SDG tools for citizen science, the discussion on the needs of NSOs and NSSs and a call for official statistics challenges for the Crowd4SDG citizen science competition to open in summer 2021.

23-24 April, 2021, Shanghai, China - The Digital Intelligence Technology Seminar for Senior Managers of Asset Management Institutions was successfully held at the Shanghai CLIIF Lujiazui Institute of International Finance. The seminar was co- hosted by the Investment Technology League (ITL) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), CIFAL Shanghai, and co- organized by the Shanghai Asset Management Association (SAMA). The seminar was supported by the Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau.

12 May 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is delighted to announce its innovative partnership with CEU San Pablo (CEU) University of Madrid. The project kickstarting the partnership is the International Professionals Programme (IPP), which holds great significance for its young audience as it aims to bring students closer to a first professional experience with the United Nations.

The conference generated forward-looking and future-oriented discussions on the future of finance in the context of the latest FinTech innovations, best practices of digitalizing monetary policy and currencies from the regulatory perspective, and the potential of digital innovations in accelerating sustainable development. UNITAR partnered with such distinguished entities for this event as the Asian Development Bank, Deloitte Switzerland, Geneva Finance Research Institute of the University of Geneva, Instimatch Global, National Bank of Hungary, SIX Digital Exchange and Swiss Finance and Technology Association.

5 May 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - In order to face up the challenge that is delivering climate literacy across the globe, UN CC:Learn has made available a new feature which allows everyone to make voluntary donations to help scale up the programme’s efforts. Contribute today and help bring state-of-the-art e-learning resources on climate change and green economy to the most in need!

April 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - UNEP, UNSIAP and UNITAR are delighted to announce a new self-paced e-learning course – “Environmental SDG indicators”. Targeted primarily towards National Statistical Offices, Ministries of Environment, civil servants, and other stakeholders that support broader national sustainable development monitoring and decision making. The course comprises 10 individual modules, that provide an overview of all 25 SDG indicators under UNEP custodianship, due to vast thematic knowledge, each module can be regarded as a stand-alone module and taken individually.

25-27 April 2021, Shanghai, China - The first Seminar on Digital Transformation for Executive Managers jointly organized by UNITAR's CIFAL Shanghai International Training Center and Information & Data Security Solutions Co., Ltd. was held in Shanghai, China between 25-27 April. The 17 senior managers who attended the seminar represented the following companies: China Merchants Bank, SAIC MOTOR, Digital Guangxi Group, Armed Police Hospital of Shanghai, Shanghai Shentong Metro Group Co., Ltd, Shanghai United Assets and Equity Exchange, Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce, Financial Technology Service Committee of Shanghai Modern Service Industry Federation.

27 April 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - Following the signing of a Letter of Agreement, UNITAR and The Ambassador Partnership joined their efforts to launch the Executive Online Certificate on Dispute Resolution. The innovative online training aims at equipping participants with the necessary negotiation, leadership, and crisis management skills to effectively overcome challenges these times of increased uncertainty.