Ambassadors and representatives of Permanent Missions in Geneva were invited to join our 5th Friends of UNITAR Meeting, to learn more about UNITAR, its activities and our new Strategic Framework 2018 - 2021.

11 July 2018 - The 2018 High-Level Political Forum has provided space for representatives of the Higher Education Institutes to share best practices, innovative approaches and discuss challenges as Universities embrace the 2030 Agenda and start mainstreaming the SDGs in their curricular, research activities and programmes. The last panel of the HESI Global Day was chaired by UNITAR Executive Director Nikhil Seth and included Secretary-General of the Association of the Commonwealth Universities, and representatives of the University of Geneva, Tecnologico de Monterrey, University of Pennsylvania, University of Papua New Guinea, and SDSN.

UNITAR and UNSD launched their new data tool StaTact during an official side event of the HLPF2018 on 11 July 2018 in New York. The side event featured experiences of the three pilot countries and was opened by UNITAR Executive Director Mr. Nikhil Seth and Director of UN Statistics Division Mr. Stefan Schweinfest.

As the training arm of the United Nations, UNITAR is committed to spearheading dynamic and creative educational methods, channeling technological advancements and pedagogical innovations into effective adult learning solutions. On 2 April 2018, UNITAR is kicking off its first ever bottom-up crowdfunding campaign, UNITAR Peace Funder, which enables selected professionals from all regions of the world to enhance their applicable knowledge and technical skills, further consolidating their ability to act as peacebuilders and changemakers.

26 – 27 October 2016, Bangkok, Thailand – A first Regional Training Workshop on “Developing National Evaluation Capacities to Support the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda” was jointly held by UNITAR and UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub on 26-27 October 2016 in Bangkok, back-to-back with the major Regional SDG Knowledge Exchange Forum. The workshop was organized in collaboration with other UN agencies and partners, including professional evaluation networks, and was attended by 30 participants, mainly government officials, UN staff and representatives of CSOs and VOPEs, primarily from six countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan and Philippines.

15 July 2016, New York. – As the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development (HLPF) prepares for its first round of 22 national voluntary presentations (NVPs) on 19-20 July, UNITAR brought together a panel of eminent experts to discuss the ways in which these discrete, global-level Government-led presentations could be better linked to strong, regular and inclusive national and subnational review processes. The learning session entitled “National reviews and M&E systems for the SDGs” was the second event organized by UNITAR as part of the UNDESA-UNITAR SDGs Learning, Training and Practice Center providing for a valuable, well-attended knowledge-sharing space on the sidelines of the Forum. More than 100 participants benefitted from the opportunities provided by the two UNITAR’s learning sessions.

14 July 2016, New York – The SDGs and the Paris Agreement hold a great promise, but how do we turn these aspirational visions into reality? UNITAR’s learning session held on the occasion of the HLPF on Thursday sought to address this issue by focusing on the new types of planning tools and nationally-grown actionable strategies to turn the SDGs, climate and regional commitments into reality. Facilitated by UNITAR’s Executive Director Nikhil Seth, the session featured Jeffrey Sachs, H.E. Amb. Kamau of Kenya, Halldór Thorgeirsson from UNFCCC, and experts from the World Resources Institute.

1 July 2016, Geneva, Switzerland. UNITAR will deliver 2 learning sessions at this year’s High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF2016), in New York, on 14 July from 10:00 to 12:00 and on 15 July from 15:00 to 17:00. The sessions will aim to promote an improved understanding of requirements related to harmonized policies and inclusive national review and M&E systems for the SDGs. They will feature renowned international and national experts and will be organized as part of the HLPF SDGs Learning, Training and Practice Center.