26 November 2021, Geneva, Switzerland – On Thursday 25th November, the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT), hosted an online event to celebrate 20 years of operations. The great discussions and testimonies from partners only scratched the surface of the tremendous work achieved so far, and what is to come.

On Thursday 25th November 2021, UNOSAT is celebrating the 20 years of operations leading to the United Nations Satellite Centre with an online event.

UNITAR, The Institute for Industrial Policy Studies (IPS), and the Taylor Institute at Franklin University Switzerland (FUS), have presented report results on National Competitiveness: Two rankings for each nation with low-cost strategy and differentiation strategy. The results of the IPS National Competitiveness Report were released on October 28, 2021, in a public conference of National Competitiveness organised by IPS and FUS, and co-hosted by UNITAR.

In South Asia, the monsoon season started early and strong this year. Nepal was particularly hit by heavy rainfall in June 2021: flooding and landslides were reported in many parts of the country and affected thousands of families. When the Rapid Mapping service was activated, the UNOSAT FloodAI pipeline was deployed and all products were sent to the Dashboard, turning it into a one-stop-shop for real-time evidence-based decision-making

26 October 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - For the second time in succession, UNITAR participated in the judging process to select the top 100 Meaningful Business leaders of the year. Meaningful Business, a global platform for leaders combining profit and purpose, has announced the 3rd edition of the Meaningful Business 100 (MB100) recognising outstanding contributions of individuals in support of the UN Global Goals, sponsored by EY.

26 October 2021, Hiroshima, Japan - UNITAR ran its online training programme Social entrepreneurship training programme for women in the Horn of Africa from October 2020 to June 2021. 247 women entrepreneurs from Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan joined the programme. Participants developed entrepreneurial skills to address local needs through innovative and creative business solutions.

22 October 2021, Hiroshima, Japan - Hayder Maala, alumnus of the UNITAR Iraq Fellowship Programme, believes entrepreneurship training for young people will help Iraq’s development. After attending a UNITAR training of trainers programme, Hayder started a youth development NGO and a startup incubator, and became a coach for UNITAR programmes. He is now managing the digital/frontier technologies programme for UNITAR's Division for Prosperity. Applications are being accepted for the "Leading Inclusive 4IR: Empowering Women in Iraq for the Future of Work through Digital Reskilling" programme.

21 October 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - During the 2021 World Data Forum (WDF), on the 6th of October 2021 in Bern, Switzerland, UNITAR, UN Statistics Division (UNSD) and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in collaboration with the Global Network of Institutions for Statistical Training (GIST), organized a hybrid session “Statistics and Data Smart: Innovative solutions for increasing statistical literacy of the general public”. Conversations focused on strategies and initiatives to improve statistical literacy of different stakeholders from children, journalists to policy-makers and business people as well as citizens at large and promote an effective use of data in support of better societies.

21 October 2021, Hiroshima, Japan – On 15 November 2021, UNITAR is launching its 6-week online training programme Strategic Response to COVID-19 Crisis: Empowering the Sahel Region through Digital Reskilling and Upskilling to Enhance Productive Sources of Livelihood and Employment and is currently accepting applications until 10 November.

John Wain, Senior Emergency Shelter Officer at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), recalled the evolution of their work and how UNOSAT supported them with satellite imagery analysis to better plan for new settlements.