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.

26 January 2018, New York City, U.S.A – The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR) jointly hosted a one-day orientation course for the members of Council. The event was hosted in the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

15 January 2018, New York, USA – The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Claremont Evaluation Centre – New York (Claremont Graduate University) launched the second phase of the Executive Leadership Programme in Evaluation and the Sustainable Development Goals.

17 January 2018, Geneva, Switzerland - UNITAR is pleased to announce the launch of the first edition of its Online Master in International Affairs and Diplomacy in partnership with the Open University of Catalonia.

19 December 2017, Geneva, Switzerland – Following the endorsement of the Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment on 12 December, 2017 at the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires, UNITAR’s Women Leadership Programme hosted the first of a 5-part high-level seminar series.

"With the new electoral body for the 2011 elections, there has been so much improvement including the 2015 elections and we hope that the elections of 2019 will consolidate the successes furthermore.”

11 – 13 December 2017, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – A three-day “Symposium on Governance for Implementing the Sustainable Development Commitments in Africa” took place from 11th to 13th December 2017 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This Symposium organized in partnership by UN DESA, UNITAR, UNDP and OIF featured a keynote address by Ambassador Kamau and plenary and break-out sessions with the participation of several Ministers and senior public officials from most of the African countries. The meeting has called for maintaining the high level of ambition instilled in the Agendas and rising to the challenge of implementation, for ensuring a sustained and exemplary leadership and whole-of-government approaches, and for empowering people and societies at large to actively shape policy design. It has provided a practical knowledge-sharing and showcasing space for government officers leading work on the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063 and international partners.

Before she participated in her first UNITAR training, Ms. Syeda Bushra Binte Amin was working at the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), a regional organization focused on disaster preparedness in Bangladesh.

“It was hard to know the exact damage area from flood, drought or other disaster because they happened fairly frequently and all estimates were done manually. Now, with GIS we can show our department and ministry a clear picture of the area of disaster and other important information quickly”.

“Instead of the old method of information sharing, I now use technologically advanced tools to convert probability of precipitation to actual rainfall amounts for specific areas, and that final output is put into GIS maps with which farmers can interact and understand.”