The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)s, in collaboration with Columbia Law School hosted the second lecture of a four-part series with Columbia Law School on "Power of Asking the Right Questions" at the United Nations Headquarters. This lecture series is sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the United Nations, as a part of the programme “Levelling the Playing Field to support the Least Developed Countries’ (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States’ (SIDS) Diplomats.”

18-19 March 2019, Beirut, Lebanon. UNITAR hosted the third workshop of the year on negotiation strategies and techniques for the diplomats of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants of the Lebanese Republic. During the workshop, expert, Mr. Marwan Mery, founder of ADN Group, a large company of professional negotiators, provided the young diplomats the essential skills and tools needed to negotiate effectively in diplomatic settings.

15-16 March 2019, Atlanta, United States - The International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders in Atlanta (CIFAL Atlanta) in partnership with the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco; Université Hassan II de Casablanca; High Atlas Foundation; Casablanca Travel & Tours; Friends of Morocco; Imperial Fez; Kennesaw State University’s Division of Global Affairs hosted the 35th Annual Country Study Program’s International Conference on Gender, Identity and Youth Empowerment.

On 13 – 15 March 2019 Grenada has become the first country to use a newly developed web-based version of the StaTact tool during a national workshop organized by UNITAR and UN Statistics Division (UNSD) together with the Central Statistical Office of Grenada (CSO). As a result of the workshop, 6 twelve-month action plans have been developed to address a bottleneck or kickstart a process in such diverse areas as as agricultural statistics, gender-based violence and child abuse, epidemiology surveillance system, education, disaster-related data collection system and environmental statistics.

12- 14 March, 2019, Puerto Rico, USA – The International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders in Merida (CIFAL Merida) in partnership with the International Airport of Merida, Aerostar, C-Prep Programme and the International Council of Airports in Latin America and the Caribbean (ACI-LAC) joined forces to carry out the International Seminar on Hurricane Preparedness.

13 March 2019, Curitiba, Brazil – The International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders in Curitiba (CIFAL Curitiba) in partnership with the Federation of Industries of the State of Parana (FIEP) System hosted the first training seminar of its “Compliance and Integrity Programme”.

It is with deep sadness that we learnt yesterday of the loss of Ambassador Abiodun Oluremi Bashua of Nigeria, a longstanding friend of UNITAR. Ambassador Bashua was traveling on behalf of UNITAR on board the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed tragically after taking off in Addis Ababa and took lives of 157 people, including about 20 UN staff as well as other experts, consultants, partners and travellers.

The International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders in Jeju (CIFAL Jeju) in partnership with Jeju National University conducted the course “International Cooperation”, which forms part of Jeju National University’s ‘Global Public Diplomacy Training.

Leadership is fundamental to effective and efficient diplomacy. The success of international leaders relies upon their capacities to take initiative, lead others in and through challenging circumstances, and thus maximize opportunities and strengthen the positions, objectives and achievements of parties and groups. In this regard, a workshop on Leadership Skills, which is part of the Executive Diploma in Diplomatic Practice, was organized by UNITAR’s Division for Multilateral Diplomacy.

The International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders in Curitiba (CIFAL Curitiba) started the “Women in Science” Lecture Series to highlight the role of women in development. The Lectures started on 28 February and will be conducted throughout the month on March across SESI Schools in the State of Paraná, Brazil.