26 July 2021, Hiroshima, Japan – The UNITAR Hiroshima Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation Training Programme has since 2015 been running in Hiroshima. Designed for officials from Asian nations, the training aims to increase the officials’ understanding of the nuclear disarmament debate, give insights into their communication practices to improve their ability to negotiate for disarmament, and familiarize them with the structure and practice of negotiations on disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. The March 2021 course focused especially on preparing trainees for the upcoming Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons scheduled for August 2021.

This 4-week online course on "Agri-food Export Promotion Policy and Practical Tools" will be Expert-facilitated and free of charge, but limited slots are available. Successful participants receive a Certificate of Completion from UNITAR and FAO. Registration is available at: https://aep3t.unitar.org/

19 July 2021, Hiroshima, Japan – On Friday, August 6th, 2021, UNITAR, in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), Hiroshima Prefecture, and the Hiroshima Organization for Global Peace (HOPe), will host a public seminar on promoting the abolition of nuclear weapons from the perspective of three stakeholders.

16 July 2021, Hiroshima, Japan – Dai Tamesue, two-time World Championships bronze medallist in the 400m hurdles, was appointed UNITAR Goodwill Ambassador in July 2021. “I am committed to training Asian athletes and fostering friendship among them, so I resonate with UNITAR’s activities. I look forward to promoting its missions,” said Mr. Tamesue at the online press conference held on 14 July 2021.

15 July 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - The digital world has become an everyday part of our lives: at the office, at home, in government, in entertainment and the news. Almost anyone on the planet can now learn about, and do things, that were impossible but a few years ago.

Over the past decade or two, increasing efforts have been directed to promote gender equality and empowerment of women in all sectors of society, including women’s participation in leadership and decision-making positions. To contribute to this common objective, the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and UNITAR organised a series of three e-workshops on gender, women’s leadership and mentoring in November and December 2020. The series aimed to strengthen female leaders’ confidence, resilience and leadership capacities, and targeted women and men in leadership positions, with special attention to those working in employers’ and business organisations.

The Arab Gulf Programme for Development (AGFUND) and UNITAR launched the Global Learning Platform on Financial Inclusion in October 2019. The initiative aims to enhance capacities on financial management and financial inclusion. It is oriented towards finance practitioners, particularly in micro-credit financial institutions and in government entities fostering financial inclusion of women and young entrepreneurs, as well as officers in governments, NGOs and other civil society organizations. Since its launch, AGFUND and UNITAR have delivered eight online courses and two e-workshops on the platform, all free of charge, targeting participants from least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island development states; especially from Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa. To increase the likelihood of reaching the intended beneficiaries, a selection process was carried out for each learning event and the platform was made available in desktop version and through a mobile app.

12 July 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - Achieving SDGs is the responsibility of not only governments but of everyone else – every citizen. There are several ways to do so. Support with data collection and monitoring of progress on SDG implementation is one of them. National Statistical Offices (NSO) have been experimenting with different new sources of data to bridge the data gaps to be able to track progress on the SDGs. This side event, on 12 July 2021, on the sidelines of the 2021 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) aimed to demonstrate how exactly citizens can make their contributions through innovative solutions and how such citizen science or citizen-generated data can be of use to the National Statistical Offices (NSOs). The event was organized by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) together with members of the Crowd4SDG Consortium, University of Geneva, Politecnico di Milano, CERN, Spanish National Research Council, and Université de Paris.

9 August 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - Coastal communities in Small Island Developing States continue to suffer from the impacts of various hazards like flood, tropical cyclones, tsunami, and erosion. This case study presents how a relocation scenario can be simulated using various spatial data and information available through the CommonSensing solution that UNOSAT provides.  

1 July 2021, Geneva, Switzerland – UNITAR jointly with the International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders in York (CIFAL York, Canada), the International Social Marketing Association and AB InBev hosted a dialogue with 83 experts, officials, and representatives from the public and private sectors about lessons learned and challenges regarding COVID-19 vaccine deployment, as well as to present a new tool developed by UNITAR that offers practical examples of actions companies can make to contribute to help reduce the impact of this virus on the population by working collaboratively with local, national and international public health organizations - by leveraging their own assets.