19-21 November 2018, Brussels, Belgium – UNITAR hosted the Annual Meeting of its Network of Affiliated International Training Centres for Authorities and Leaders (CIFAL) in Brussels and in Antwerp, Belgium. The Directors of 15 CIFAL Centres gathered for three days to review its performance in 2018, discuss opportunities for collaboration, exchange knowledge and expertise, and to develop the training calendar for 2019.

17 December, Geneva, Switzerland – A landmark report providing the first detailed account of the devastating damage to the World Heritage Property of the Ancient City of Aleppo in the wake of years of armed conflict has been published by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and UNESCO.

"I am delighted to share our work and progress of 2018 at UNITAR Hiroshima Office. 2018 has been a fruitful year for both Hiroshima and the UNITAR Hiroshima Office. Hiroshima’s local baseball team, Toyo Carp, has claimed the Central League Championship for the third year in a row. The UNITAR Hiroshima Office has also been busy and active, celebrating its 15th anniversary since it began operations in 2003."

Thirty-three female peacemakers from across the continent took part in UNITAR’s intensive two-week Training Programme Strengthening the Capacities of African Women Peacemakers conducted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Building upon the annual UNITAR regional training organized for senior and mid-level officials and peace mission staff in Africa, this requested programme was the first dedicated training for women peacemakers from every region deepening knowledge and strengthening skills in conflict analysis, interest-based negotiation and mediation, dialogue and reconciliation processes.

I was always a girl who thought that one day maybe I’ll be a big person.

Practitioners from all over Africa were put together with wonderful resource persons and experts, to reflect deeply on mediation, and most importantly, on prevention and transformation of conflict in Africa.

With the start of the reform process, I have discovered that elections were about much more than just dispute resolution, which I had been previously concentrating on, and becoming part of it required from me now a thorough understanding of the whole electoral framework.

On 13-15 November 2018, the Togolese Public Administration School (ENA), UNITAR and UNDP held a national workshop aimed at strengthening the capacities of senior civil servants to lead the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and SDGs. This was the first national-level pilot of UNITAR’s toolkit “Policy cycle, integrated approaches and SDGs” targeted towards African Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

16 October 2018, Geneva, Switzerland – The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is kicking off its first ever bottom-up crowdfunding campaign, UNITAR Peace Funder, which enables selected professionals from all regions of the world to enhance their applicable knowledge and technical skills, further consolidating their ability to act as peacebuilders and changemakers. UNITAR Master’s programmes in Conflictology, Electoral Policy and Administration, Humanitarian Action and Peacebuilding, and United Nations and the Art of Peace are tailored for professionals working within the framework of international and regional organizations, as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations.

The United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR) Hiroshima Office, with the support of the Government and People of Japan, launched this week the UNITAR Women’s Leadership Programme for Afghanistan: Governance and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Kabul, Afghanistan. The programme builds upon the experiences and lessons learned from UNITAR Hiroshima’s engagement with Afghanistan over the past 15 years. Focusing on empowering women and fostering inclusive and effective governance in Afghanistan, the training programme offers scholarship to twenty young professional women from twenty public, private and civil society organisations in Afghanistan.