26 May 2026, Hiroshima, Japan – The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) invites government officials, private-sector leaders and professionals in ASEAN countries to apply for the Green Economic Acceleration: A Japan-ASEAN Strategic Programme for Sustainable Green Finance, a Japan-funded regional training programme to strengthen Japan-ASEAN cooperation in sustainable finance, green economic development and regional economic resilience. The application deadline is 25 June 2026 (11:59 p.m. JST [UTC+9]).

22 May 2026, Geneva, Switzerland – The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is pleased to announce a call for applications for the “Pathway to Prosperity: Upskilling Selangor’s Professionals for a Digital Future (Cohort 3)” course.

22 May 2026, Hiroshima, Japan – Lydia Tabu Casmiro Jamba from South Sudan works to help build peace in her country. Now managing programming for a national, women-led NGO that she helped to found and studying for her master’s degree, Lydia joined the FY2024 Primary Course of the Program for Global Human Resource Development for Peacebuilding and Development to strengthen her chosen career path.

22 May 2026, Geneva, Stwizerland - Many of the challenges to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) rely on the need to change behaviour - whether it’s transitioning to clean energy, addressing unequal gender and social norms, bridging the formal-informal divide and decreasing the spread of false information. Behavioural science draws upon what we know about human behaviour and decision-making to better diagnose behavioural barriers and enablers to help people achieve their aims.

19 May 2026, Geneva, Switzerland - The UNITAR Global Water Academy (UGWA) co-hosted the African Regional Consultation for the UN Water Conference Academic Hub, co-convened with the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa, and WaterNet. The consultation gathered academic, governmental, and practitioner stakeholders from across the continent to ensure that African priorities and knowledge are central to preparations for the 2026 UN Water Conference.

UNITAR and Gulf Colleges have launched a new hybrid Master’s Degree in Strategic Leadership and Artificial Intelligence to equip future leaders with strategic, ethical and practical AI capabilities in global governance and decision-making.

8 May 2026, Geneva, Switzerland - The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) issued the 2025 Results Report. The report highlights the progress, partnerships and impact achieved throughout the year. Amid rising expectations for a more agile and impactful United Nations, UNITAR continued to strengthen capacities across Member States and among diverse stakeholders worldwide while advancing important institutional milestones, including the adoption of UNITAR’s new four-year Strategic Framework.

Since October 2023, the Gaza Strip has been living through one of the most severe and prolonged displacement crises of recent decades. Families who fled bombardment lost not only their homes but any prospect of returning to them. More than a million people came to settle in makeshift sites along the coastline, in public spaces, on school grounds, and on the edges of urban areas, sheltering in manufactured tents that offered little protection from the elements. With almost no intact housing available, families in tents on low-lying, near-sea-level ground faced acute exposure when winter arrived.

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) play a critical role in advancing sustainable development by shaping the knowledge, skills, and mindsets of present and future generations. Developed by UNITAR, UNESCO, and a collective of HEIs, the Leaders in Higher Education Alliance and Programme - for Accelerating Sustainability Transformations (LEAP-FAST) aimed to strengthen this role by fostering a global movement of sustainability leaders in higher education. The initiative comprises four components: a Leadership Dialogue, a Certificate Programme, an SDG Ambassadors' Programme, and Regional and National Spin-offs.

For more than 10 years, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Satellite Centre (UN Satellite
Centre) have worked together on satellite-based monitoring of cultural and natural heritage affected by armed conflict and disasters resulting from natural or
human-made hazards. This partnership was formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2015 and subsequently strengthened through a series of joint agreements, funded by UN Member States, to monitor and safeguard cultural and natural heritage around the world. What began as ad-hoc assessments for Iraq and Syria has evolved into systematic, joint operations with rapid, global response capabilities.