Using the knowledge gained from the UNITAR Disaster Risk Reduction Training she took part in, Lu'isa Uai Taunga from Tonga worked on incorporating best practices from around the globe and adapting them to her local context.

3 March 2020, Geneva, Switzerland - UNITAR and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently signed an agreement to re-run its joint online course on Trade, Food Security and Nutrition to be delivered in Russian language for officials across Europe and Central Asia. This is an updated version of the same course delivered in 2018 which generated a huge interest across the region. The joint course in 2018 was able to serve only 25% of the applications received.

29 February 2020, Geneva, Switzerland - UNITAR and the Arab Gulf Programme for Development (AGFUND) launched its Global Learning Platform on Financial Inclusion during the 8th AGFUND Development Forum in Geneva, Switzerland on October 8, 2019.

30 – 31 January, New York, USA – The United Nations Institute for Training and Research’s (UNITAR) New York Office kicked off the last of a series of workshops with the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Niger to the United Nations. Niger constitutes one of the newly elected members of the Security Council for the 2020-2021 period: Tunisia, Niger, Vietnam, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Estonia. This training was made possible through the support from the Swedish International Development Agency’s (Sida) towards the UNITAR Strategic Framework Fund (SFF) and was held from the 30th – 31st of January 2020 at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Niger to the United Nations

31 January 2020, Geneva, Switzerland - The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Prosperity Division launched today an innovative training programme on ‘Frontier Technologies for Sustainable Development: Unlocking Women’s Entrepreneurship through Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Afghanistan and Iraq’.

UNITAR's new global e-learning Entrepreneurship Platform - the Great Ideas Space - is launching.

23 January 2020, New York, U.S.A – The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR) New York Office kicked of its year of trainings for 2020 organizing jointly with the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) a one-day orientation course for the members of the Council. This activity is supported with funding allocated from the Swedish International Development Agency’s (SIDA) contribution to the UNITAR Strategic Framework Fund and hosted in the United Nations Headquarters in Conference Room 8.

When Lu’isa Uai Taunga, an officer with the National Emergency Management Office in the Kingdom of Tonga, participated in the UNITAR Disaster Risk Reduction Training which wrapped up in November 2017, she left with renewed energy and ideas for new initiatives to prepare her community in the island group of Ha’apai in the event of a disaster.

“We are vulnerable to tropical cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, drought and flash floods and it’s an all year cycle,” said Lu’isa Uai Taunga, a citizen of the Kingdom of Tonga, who participated in the UNITAR Disaster Risk Reduction Training which concluded in November 2017.

29 November 2019, Geneva, Switzerland - The Board of Trustees of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) concluded its Sixtieth Session, which convened from 28 to 29 November 2019. Key decisions of the session include adoption of the $88 million programme budget for 2020-2021 and the integration into UNITAR of The Defeat-NCD Partnership with a biennial budget of $31 million.