UNITAR develops the course of Drafting Skills Workshop

Professor Sandy Singer during the workshop

UNITAR

26 - 27 May, New York, USA, online workshop - The United Nations Institute for Training and Research's (UNITAR) office in New York organized a two-day virtual workshop, “Drafting Skills: Reporting and Communications” held on 26-27 May 2021. The workshop was attended by approximately 170 delegates from developing countries around the world via video conference. To begin, the participants were welcomed by Mr. Pelayo Alvarez of UNITAR. He then introduced the workshop’s facilitator, Mr. Sandy Singer, a Lecturer and Instructor in the UN-LCP English Language Programme and Consultant and Professor in the field of Written and Oral Communication for Business. Mr. Singer outlined the themes of the two-day workshop, which focused on major challenges and best practices for UN writing. This training was supported with funding allocated from the Swedish International Development Agency’s (SIDA) contribution to the UNITAR Strategic Framework Fund, under the programme ‘Leveling The Playing Field’ which focuses on the development of skills and knowledge of Least Developing Countries.

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Mr. Singer began the session acknowledging the importance of knowing your purpose and your audience which helps identifies the content and tone used in the report. He described the difference between formal and informal language and which to use according to the situation. Mr. Singer focused on the importance of knowing your audience which contributes to your language choice. He also spoke about stating purpose early in a document which helps improve purpose statement composition. A small exercise took place to implement crafting purpose statements.

Mr. Singer then moved on to clarity and conciseness when drafting a report. He explained that the best way to improve writing is to remove meaningless words and keep the point as simple as possible by “replacing heavy phrases with shorter alternatives”. Another exercise took place then to know how to shorten sentences. To conclude the first session, Mr. Singer talked about sentence and paragraph lengths, focusing on the importance of how short and to the point it should be.

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On the second day of the workshop, the participants were again welcomed by Mr. Pelayo Alvarez of UNITAR, who then re-introduced Mr. Sandy Singer. Session II focused primarily on choosing the right wording and tone for a report. He focused on the importance of indirect language as it achieves a soft tone which is also referred to as a diplomatic tone. Mr. Singer explained the difference between active and passive voice along with creating an exercise explaining when to use them according to the situation.

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Mr. Singer explained in details the importance of the tone, as it is the feeling of word choice, therefore fitting the type of the report, its purpose and its audience. He also stressed on the use of euphemisms as it adjusts the tone of the report, hedges, qualifiers, modals and introductory phrases to achieve a diplomatic and tactful tone to avoid the sensation of blame or offend. Mr. Singer mentioned the use of sensitive language in the writing of the UN, for example using “spokesperson” instead of “spokesman”. To close out the workshop, Mr. Singer took the participants through another exercise utilizing these strategies to adapt tone. As the session came to an end, both Mr. Singer, Mr. Alvarez and Ms. Ottis thanked participants for their enthusiastic participation in the online workshop.