4-5 April 2019, Geneva, Switzerland - In keeping with its vision of providing the highest quality of training and innovation, the Division for Multilateral Diplomacy (DMD) of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research successfully hosted the first ever workshop on Stakeholder Engagement and Coordination in its series of Core Diplomatic Training for the Executive Diploma to cater to modern needs of diplomats, government officials and professionals.

It was designed to train participants to be able to identify potential stakeholders, assess their specific needs and interests and to initiate and sustain viable channels of engagement and coordination from an early stage. This is needed to operate at the peak level in a fast-evolving landscape of diplomacy, where technological and modern political realities have led to the emergence of an unprecedented diverse set of stakeholders at the national, regional and international levels. In this new context, higher skills and newly acquired awareness are needed to identify and engage the most relevant stakeholders for the most effective outcomes.

The workshop was held on 4th and 5th April 2019 at the Palais des Nations, with 15 participants in attendance including diplomats, international development specialists, entrepreneurs and professionals from the private sector.

It was facilitated by Dr Meritxell Martell, an expert consultant in communication and stakeholder engagement with over 15 years of experience.

By the end of the workshop, through discussions and practical exercises, 93% of participants reported that their awareness of the topic had increased, and 92% of participants had honed their skills in initiating, encouraging and sustaining suitable channels of stakeholder engagement and coordination at an early stage. Given these encouraging initial results, the Division for Multilateral Diplomacy looks forward to refining the course content, thanks to the extensive feedback received by participants, and to repeating it in future editions in an effort to continuously innovate and sharpen UNITAR’s formative offer.