UNITAR and DevInfo partnered to train national actors on the new DiMonitoring tool for improving the creation and implementation of national to local development plans. Co-hosted by UNITAR and UNICEF (host agency for DevInfo) the workshop took place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from September 19-22 with over twenty-one participants ranging from Barbados to Bhutan.

The training provided participants with an applied understanding of the core DevInfo database technology, for both users and administrators, and how this can be used to develop territorial planning and its implementation in any area of human development. The new features of the DiMonitoring software allow for simply tracking of progress during the course of the territorial plan. As put by a participant from within the UN, ‘real time monitoring and accessing of data is critical for development scenarios’.

The training is planned as a first of a series of workshops and learning events dedicated to the use of DevInfo for local development planning, in a cooperative framework between UNITAR and UNICEF, where national to local development planning officers come together to learn how to improve territorial planning systems.

UNITAR's Local Development Training Programme seeks to build local government and local stakeholder capacity to plan and meet territorial development goals, using new technologies and knowledge to bridge national to local human capital gaps. DevInfo is a multiple use platform developed by the United Nations that can not only be used to monitor and track development goals and plans at a national level, but also at territorial and local levels.