27 July 2026, Cairo, Egypt – UNITAR in close collaboration with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and with the support of the FIA Foundation, formally launched the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regional edition of the Safe Mobility for All and for Life (SM4A4L) initiative.

22 July 2026, Geneva, Switzerland - Dengue is spreading faster than most health systems can respond. On World Dengue Day 2026, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) joined global health leaders, policymakers, researchers and civil society representatives at the high-level event One World Against Dengue, convened at the Asia Dengue Summit in Singapore, to address that gap.

21 July 2026, Geneva, Switzerland - UNITAR invites Ukrainian women refugees in Poland and internally displaced women in Ukraine to apply for a free digital upskilling and reskilling programme designed to strengthen career opportunities in technology, remote work and entrepreneurship.

21 July 2026, New York, USA – To contribute to enhance access to and use of knowledge, UNITAR launched the UN Road Safety Lab during the High-Level Meeting (HLM) on Improving Global Road Safety under the theme “Scaling up and accelerating implementation of commitments to halving road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030”.

Held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on 20 and 21 July 2026, the HLM brought together Heads of State and Government and high-level representatives to reaffirm their commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals, in particular target 3.6 to halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes by 2030. A Progress Declaration was agreed in advance of the HLM.

UNITAR Launches the Inaugural United Nations Chemicals and Waste Management Study Programme in Geneva

21 July 2026, Hiroshima, Japan – UNITAR invites 500 motivated learners of all genders, aged 18 and above, living in or from Pacific Island countries and territories or the Asia-Pacific to apply for the Japan-funded “UNITAR Women’s Leadership in Disaster Risk Reduction Training Programme for World Tsunami Awareness Day 2026– Building Economies and Livelihood Resilient to the Global Shocks”. The programme will equip the participants with lifelong skills in disaster risk reduction and inclusive leadership. The deadline for applications is 21 August 2026 (11:59 p.m. JST [UTC+9]).

20 July 2026, Geneva, Switzerland - Held at the United Nations Office at Geneva on 13–14 July 2026, the Fellowship Programme and Graduation of the Safe Mobility 4 All & 4 Life (SM4A4L) Initiative for Asia-Pacific marked the culmination of months of learning, mentoring and cross-sector collaboration amongst road safety practitioners, government officials and international experts from the region.

20 July 2026, New York, United States of America – The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) convened the 2026 SDGs in Practice special event on the margins of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), bringing together representatives from governments, the United Nations system, academia, civil society and the private sector to examine practical approaches for accelerating implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

16 July 2026, New York City, United States of America – Water is at the heart of nearly every Sustainable Development Goal, yet progress on SDG 6 is falling behind. At the 2026 High-Level Political Forum, UNITAR and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) convened a high-level side event at UN Headquarters to press the case for stronger capacity development and early warning systems as the foundation for delivering on SDG 6.

Zarif Ludin, originally from Afghanistan, is Head of Institutional Partnerships at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). He completed the UNITAR Executive Master’s Degree Programme in 2016. Since then, he has been applying his skills in advancing public financial management systems globally through the accountancy profession. Recently, he helped bring about the new partnership between ACCA and UNITAR, through which the two entities plan to jointly design, deliver and scale practical learning pathways in finance, sustainability, digital innovation, entrepreneurship, public financial management, ethics and value creation.