"We were stranded in the school, unable to move anywhere because the streets were submerged, and many people lost their lives. It is caused by Coral abstraction and cutting mangroves, but climate change is making the problem even worse".

27 January 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - Between 18-27 January 2021, UNITAR, UNESCAP, UNDP, and UNDESA jointly organized a Subregional Introductory Training for Countries of North and Central Asia on Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFF) for Sustainable Recovery from the COVID-19 Crisis and for Achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

With the beginning of the decade of delivery for the 2030 Agenda, mobilisation of finance for the SDGs remains a challenge. The Covid-19 pandemic and the economic disruption it has caused has exacerbated this challenge and threatened the trajectories of countries’ long-term development plan. As the focus now begins to turn towards ensuring a sustainable recovery from the economic shock caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the training aimed to share knowledge and build capacity within the INFF steering committees and core ministries of the nine North and Central Asian countries on how to design and implement a coordinated approach to financing the 2030 and Addis Ababa Action Agendas. Participants included members of ministries of finance, economy, labour, environment and health, as well as think tanks, NGOs, Parliament, UN organization and academia.

26 January 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - On 18 March, UNITAR and the Geneva-Tsinghua Initiative, host the third Geneva Trialogue edition, under the theme of ”Scaling Open Innovation for the SDGs“.

18 December 2020, Geneva, Switzerland and Georgetown, Guyana – The Flood Forecasting System, under the project “Strengthening Women’s Disaster Management Capacities in Guyana and Dominica” funded by the Government of Japan and led by UNDP Guyana, was implemented by UNOSAT in close collaboration with CIMA Research Foundation. This is the first of two components of the “Development of Guyana National Flood Early Warning System (NFEWS)“ initiative supported by the Hydrometeorological Service of the Ministry of Agriculture of Guyana (Hydromet).

11 December 2020, Geneva, Switzerland - On three dates in December 2020 (7, 10, 11), UNITAR and UN Statistics Division hosted an online workshop for the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on the uses and applications of the updated StaTact online tool for resolving short-term tactical data problems.

In fact, sharing ideas with people with different professional backgrounds, beliefs, and from over ten different places of origin was one of Udeaku’s main learnings and had impacted her professional and personal life.

16 November 2020, Dakar, Senegal – To join the global activities during the World Day of Remembrance, UNITAR and the International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders (CIFAL) in Dakar, in partnership with the Municipality of Dakar, and with the support of Diageo inaugurated on 16 November 2020 the training course “High Visibility Enforcement Interventions: Law Enforcement to Reduce Road Traffic Crashes related to Drivers using Alcohol”.

9 November 2020, Merida, Mexico – The International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders (CIFAL) in Merida hosted a two-day virtual workshop on the role and contribution that Media can make in the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.

3 November 2020 - COVID-19 has led to a parallel pandemic of disinformation that directly impacts lives and livelihoods around the world. Falsehoods and misinformation have proven deadly and sowed confusion about life-saving personal and policy choices. We are in the midst of a disinfodemic.

23 October 2020, Bonn, Germany - The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is now the 24th and newest member of the UN family in Bonn. UNITAR, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, opens its third out-posted office in the UN City in Germany, following the offices in the United States (New York) and Japan (Hiroshima). The Institute has several project offices and affiliated training centres around the world.