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.

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.

7 July 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - On the 7th of July 2021, UNDESA and UNITAR, jointly with CANEUS, FILAC, UNOOSA and GNDR, organized a session entitled “Integrating recovery planning from COVID-19, building resilience and strengthening policy coherence towards the SDGs” as part of the SDGs Learning, Training & Practice Center’s learning sessions on the sidelines of the 2021 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). It was an opportunity to present the new UNDESA-UNITAR course “Integrated Recovery Planning and Policy Coherence Towards the SDGs” to policy-makers and other stakeholders.

This 4-week online course 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: www.unitar.org/tfs21arabic

UNITAR and Al Sharq Forum sign a Memorandum of Understanding to promote peacebuilding, conflict transformation, human rights promotion and gender equality in the Middle East and North Africa region and globally.

28 June 2021, Geneva, Switzerland/ Bogotá, Colombia: On 30 June 2021, 16.00-18.00 CEST, The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) brings together a unique virtual panel of artists, peacebuilding and human rights practitioners from Colombia and the Latin American continent to discuss the power of storytelling and art as tools for reconciliation. Featuring among others 1992 Nobel Peace Laureate Rigoberta Menchú Tum and the musicians Juanes and Marta Gómez, the panel members will share their diverse experiences in using different forms of artistic expression and storytelling to support communities in moving from mistrust and violence to a culture of dialogue and peace.