27 January 2026, Dakar, Senegal - UNITAR, through its Global Water Academy, actively participated in the High-Level Preparatory Meeting for the 2026 United Nations Water Conference, championing capacity development as the driver of SDG 6.

03 February 2026, Majmaah, Saudi Arabia - From 22 to 27 November 2025, Majmaah University, in partnership with CIFAL Saudi Arabia, hosted the Co-Creation Workshop of the UNITAR–UNESCO LEAP-FAST (Leaders in Higher Education Alliance and Programme for Accelerating Sustainability Transformations) Certificate Programme, bringing together universities and sustainability experts from across regions for six days of collaboration, reflection, and collective transformation of higher education.

2 February 2026, Geneva, Switzerland - In January 2026, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) reached a major milestone with the issuance of its first-ever digital certificate of completion. Issued on 31January 2026 by the One UN Climate Change Learning Partnership (UN CC:Learn), this certificate marks the culmination of a months-long process to introduce state-of-the-art certification at UNITAR, responding to the needs of an online learning environment that continues to evolve rapidly.

4 February 2026, Tokyo – The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) welcomed 36 participants from Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon to Japan on 3 February 2026, marking the start of an in-person workshop under the 2025 programme "RISE LAB: Igniting Youth Potential through Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Economic Resilience.”

30 January 2026 - This Statistical Guideline aims to address the lack of a detailed, globally agreed statistical methodology for measuring plastic flows at the national, regional, and global levels. It provides guidance to practitioners on producing high-quality national-level statistics on plastics that are comparable across countries.

2 February 2026, Merida, Mexico - The International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders (CIFAL) in Mérida, in collaboration with ITAérea Aeronautical Business School and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), is promoting the Environmental Management and Wildlife Control at Airports course, a fully online training programme designed for airport sector professionals seeking to strengthen their capacities in sustainability, regulatory compliance, and operational safety.

27 January 2026, Brussels, Belgium - The International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders (CIFAL) in Brussels is promoting the Sustainability Coordinator micro-credential, a short and intensive higher education programme developed by HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts. The micro-credential will take place from March to May 2026, reflecting CIFAL Flanders’ activities and its strategic role in linking sustainability initiatives within the United Nations framework in Europe.

23 January 2025, Geneva, Switzerland - According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are more than 120 million people forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of conflict, persecution or serious violations of human rights, equivalent to one in every 67 people on the planet.

15 January 2026, Bangkok, Thailand – Following several successful editions, the International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders (CIFAL) in Bangkok has announced the 2026 edition of the Sustainable Leadership in Crisis training course, which will take place from 12 to 15 May 2026 at the Lancaster Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand. The four-day, face-to-face course is organised in partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), AIT Extension, and the Human Development Forum Foundation (HDFF).

8 January 2026, Hiroshima, Japan – On 19 November 2025, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) concluded the first training phase of its “Women’s Leadership in Disaster Risk Reduction Training Programme for World Tsunami Awareness Day 2025”. Over 380 learners from Asia and the Pacific completed the 2-month phase, which highlighted the importance of gender-inclusive leadership and introduced them to core disaster risk reduction concepts, key principles of the Sendai Framework and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ecosystem- and community-based approaches to disaster risk reduction, and lessons from Japan’s disaster experiences.