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18 September 2023, New York, USA – UNITAR proudly announces the launch of its three hybrid events during the 2023 SDG Summit, under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly entitled, ‘Developing a Blueprint for Civil Society Private Sector Contributions: Towards the Elaboration of a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Rights of Older Persons’; ‘What if Women Designed the City?’; and, ‘Harnessing the power of big data, novel technologies, and international collaboration to address global water insecurity’.
The 2023 SDG Summit mark...
28 May 2024, Hiroshima, Japan – On 25 April 2024, UNITAR signed a memorandum of understanding with the City University of Seattle (CityU) to develop joint degree or certificate programmes and share educational resources such as online learning materials and platforms. The two institutions also hope to exchange faculty members, researchers and students and jointly organize workshops, seminars and conferences in areas of common interest.
UNITAR and CityU plan to start with collaboration on capacity-building programmes, master classes and partnerships with stakehold...
13 September 2019, Curitiba, Brazil – The International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders in Curitiba (CIFAL Curitiba) and the Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná (FIEP), represented by Mr. Jose Antonio Fares, and Rafael Greca, Mayor of Curitiba, signed a protocol that formalizes a collaborative intervention to promote and implement sustainable development initiatives in the city of Curitiba, Brazil.
CIFAL Curitiba and the FIEP System have been key drivers to promoting and implementing activities at the local, national and regional levels to contribut...
12 February 2025, Geneva, Switzerland – UNITAR and RES4CITY Micro-credentials and micro-programmes are available free now: (https://res4city.boostmyskills.eu/). This groundbreaking platform equips individuals with the knowledge and skills to drive sustainable urban transformations. Developed with EU and Swiss Confederation support by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, alongside 18 pan-European universities and industry partners, RES4CITY provides micro-credentials on key topics, including renewable energy, sustainable finance, and smart urban solutions,...
Disasters affect the well-being and safety of people, communities and countries, as a whole. Globally, the most common hazardous events are road accidents, natural disasters, and industrial injuries. Approximately 190 million people are directly affected annually by emergencies due to natural and technological hazards, with over 77 000 deaths. An estimated 235 million people required humanitarian assistance in 2021 due to conflict, disasters, and overlapping crises (UNDRR, 2025). Between 2000 and 2019, extreme heat was...
Particularly in the context of increased urbanization, the urban risk continues to rise. The vulnerability of cities to disasters is growing especially as poor people settle in high-risk urban areas. Unfortunately, the planning and development of cities have given little consideration to the consequences of hazards such as earthquakes, hydro-meteorological risks, and others. The implication of this reality is the need for countries to focus on creating a safer world for urban dwellers and developing a series of innovative approaches to build resilience.On the basis of these...
Born in Austria thirty-five years ago, Sabine Samarawickrema has devoted a huge part of her life to questions tied to sustainable consumption. During her Ph.D., which was completed in Vienna in 2011, she travelled to a lot of different places, working among others for the United Nations in New York. Having met her future husband in New York, she moved to Sri Lanka in 2011 and started working with various NGO's and the UN, active in the field of sustainable development, child protection or education.
But this enthusiastic young woman had to have her own way: one year later…
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.
The Ancient City of Aleppo is one of six Syrian World Heritage sites added to UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger in 2013. Five Years of Conflict: The State of Cultural Heritage in the Ancient City of Aleppo draws on satellite imagery assessment of a total of...
23-26 January 2018, Lumban, Laguna, Philippines - As part of its continuing partnership with the local government of Quezon City, CIFAL Philippines facilitated an SDG Orientation and Strategic Planning Workshop for the city’s Migration and Development (M&D) Council from the 23rd to the 26th of January.
Twenty-four council members, representing various offices of the local government, participated in the event, which aimed to enhance the Quezon City M&D Council’s knowledge and skills on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
During the four-day activity, the ...
27 September 2022, Plock, Poland – The International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders (CIFAL) in Plock hosted the “City Coders Hackathon Plock” on 25-26 September, bringing together 81 participants, mostly high schoolers and university students to develop an application that would respond to the needs of the city residents.
Young innovators, under the supervision of experienced experts were tasked with designing solutions related to one of the three proposed topics: Social Inclusion, Renewable energy and City for the Youth.
Hackathon is not only about compet...