27 May 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - On 27 and 28 September 2021, the University Global Coalition, in partnership with the United Nations, under UNITAR's continuous support and ongoing partnership, will host its second annual conference, successively after its first online gathering in 2020. UNITAR stands among the founding signatory members of the Coalition, and is represented in its Steering Committee by the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director, Mr. Nikhil Seth.

25 May 2021, Geneva, Switzerland – The President of the 74th World Health Assembly and Minister of Health, Royal Government of Bhutan, Ms Dechen Wangmo visited the Defeat-NCD Partnership’s office at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) in Geneva today to set the tone at a high-level panel discussion aimed at tackling the twin challenges of COVID-19 and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). “I understand that time has passed for mere statements and rhetoric in addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of universal access to health”, she said. “It is time to act now”.

The UNITAR Iraq Entrepreneurship and Leadership Youth Training Programme is a fellowship initiative that provides youth with skills in entrepreneurship and leadership to develop or strengthen local businesses that contribute to social and economic stability in their country. In this Impact Story, we review the extent to which participants have applied or transferred knowledge and skills from the programme and the challenges encountered by them and spotlight the experiences from three participants.

19 May 2021, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic - The “Autosobriety Training Programme to Prevent Drink-Driving” kicks off today, resulting from a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding between INTRANT, UNITAR and Pernod Ricard, with the common ambition to reduce alcohol-related road crashes in the Dominican Republic.

23-24 April, 2021, Shanghai, China - The Digital Intelligence Technology Seminar for Senior Managers of Asset Management Institutions was successfully held at the Shanghai CLIIF Lujiazui Institute of International Finance. The seminar was co- hosted by the Investment Technology League (ITL) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), CIFAL Shanghai, and co- organized by the Shanghai Asset Management Association (SAMA). The seminar was supported by the Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau.

New technologies, products and related services have the potential to stimulate financial innovation and efficiency as well as improve financial inclusion, but they also present new risks for the financial system and regulators.

UNITAR will be offering a new training programme titled Gender Mainstreaming in Renewable Energy Trade. This offering is aimed at training policymakers with a better understanding of the gendered dimensions affecting the growth of the renewable energy sector and renewable energy trade.

The new training programme is part of UNITAR’s comprehensive Digital Finance Initiative, which aims at supporting training for emerging innovations in trade and finance.

5 May 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - In order to face up the challenge that is delivering climate literacy across the globe, UN CC:Learn has made available a new feature which allows everyone to make voluntary donations to help scale up the programme’s efforts. Contribute today and help bring state-of-the-art e-learning resources on climate change and green economy to the most in need!

May 2021 - How climate change can impact on disease outbreaks such as Zika or Dengue? Andrea Monroy-Licht is a UN CC:Learn Champion who has been leading a project called Salud 1.5º.  This initiative seeks to encourage students to take action against the health risks associated with climate change and global warming. This Colombian teacher from Barranquilla has already made positive changes in her community and is looking forward to replicating this project in other cities. Discover more about her environmental education activities on climate change issues which aims at mitigating the effects associated with vector-borne diseases.