April 2016, Geneva, Switzerland - The year 2015 was marked by the adoption of four landmark United Nations agreements: Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, Addis Ababa Action Agenda, 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Paris Agreement. The 2030 Agenda provides an overarching vision for all of them as well as a global framework for national strategies and policies to put the world on a path to sustainability. UNITAR has developed a new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to help interested persons improve their knowledge about the new Agenda and related Global Goals.

10 March 2016, New York, USA - Mr. Nikhil Seth, UNITAR Executive Director, met today with the United Nations Secretary-General , Mr. Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

19 January 2016, Geneva, Switzerland - It is with great sadness that we learned that our highly respected and beloved colleague, Mr. Jean Gazarian, UNITAR full-time Senior Fellow, passed away yesterday at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, United States.  Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family.

More than 100 individuals from over 60 institutions gathered at the 1st Global Forum on Green Economy Learning to discuss global and national approaches to green economy learning and explore opportunities to exchange knowledge and collaborate with the goals of up-scaling green economy learning.

Following the success of its first events earlier this year, UNITAR’s Women’s Leadership Programme delivered its third Leadership Workshop on 22 and 23 October in Geneva. With 10 participants from International Geneva, including representatives from Permanent Missions, the non-governmental sector and international organizations, the workshop succeeded in providing a positive, empowering and engaging environment for learning, self-reflection and development and the building of a strong network amongst women and female professionals.

UNITAR’s Women’s Leadership Programme in partnership with UN Women and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) held a Leadership Workshop for the female delegates accredited to the Radiocommunication Assembly (RA) and the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC). The workshop was opened with remarks by Mr. Francois Rancy, Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau at ITU and Mr. Nikhil Seth, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNITAR Executive Director.

Following the launch and success of UNITAR’s new Women’s Leadership Programme, UNITAR and the UN Women Training Center committed to strengthening their cooperation in the field of capacity building and women’s empowerment.

30 October 2015, Geneva, Switzerland – UNITAR and the University of Newcastle (UoN) with the support of the City Government of Newcastle in Australia signed a partnership agreement to establish an “International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders (CIFAL)” in the city of Newcastle with the aim to provide training to government authorities from Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. UN Assistant Secretary General and UNITAR Executive Director Nikhil Seth, University of Newcastle President and Vice-Chancellor Caroline McMillen, and Lord Mayor of Newcastle Councilor Nuatali Nelmes signed the partnership agreement.

22 September 2015, Juba, Republic of South Sudan – The United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR) Hiroshima Office and the Embassy of Japan in South Sudan are pleased to announce the launch of the UNITAR Project Development and Implementation Training Programme for South Sudan (hereafter “the programme”). As Africa’s newest nation, South Sudan faces a number of challenges to achieve sustainable peace and prosperity. The programme will build the local capacity of the South Sudanese people to counter these challenges and support the sustainable development and recovery of South Sudan.

Hiroki Kuroda, an internationally recognised professional baseball pitcher, currently playing for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, was appointed as a UNITAR Correspondent - Goodwill Ambassador, at a ceremony held at Mazda Stadium in Hiroshima today.