Governments around the world have been at the forefront in the fight against global crises, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, the disruptive nature of the COVID-19 crisis has exposed a deeper level of vulnerability in our communities, by creating unprecedented socio-economic and cultural implications. During the crisis, public servants have been faced with the unparalleled urgency to formulate new ways of thinking, adapt to new realities and prepare for the unknown future.

Due to this urgent need to support Government officials, UNITAR’s Division for People and Social Inclusion is launching its new course on Monday the 2nd of November 2020, entitled: ‘Crisis Management for Public Officials: The Skills Necessary to Effectively Manage a Crisis and Continually Deliver to the People you Serve’ (also known as: ‘Crisis Management for Public Officials: Basic Skills’).

16 October 2020, Geneva, Switzerland – UNOSAT and UNDP, longstanding partners, are cooperating on a new satellite imagery analysis application, through the production of maps used in the validation of the civil and electoral registries in Vanuatu’s 83 islands.

14 October 2020, Geneva, Switzerland – The United Nation’s Operational Programme for Satellite Analysis and Applied Research (UNOSAT) remotely joined the training on Information Management led by UNITAR Division for Peace. This training was delivered for the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in September 2020 in Chad.

13 October 2020, Costa Rica, New York, and Geneva – The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) represented by the Executive Director, Mr. Nikhil Seth, and the Director-General, Mr. Manuel Otero, respectively, participated in the first virtual signature of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) together with the Head of UNITAR New York Office, Mr. Marco Suazo.

5 October 2020, Geneva, Switzerland – UNITAR, in partnership with the Geneva-Tsinghua Initiative, the University of Geneva and the Tsinghua University, launch the SDG Innovation Bootcamps, a series of short programmes (online or hybrid) aimed at a new generation of impact entrepreneurs, willing to collectively act in order to identify, delineate and address outstanding challenges for the SDGs, through open innovation.

UNOSAT delivered the Advanced Training on Earth Observation (EO) and Geospatial Information Technology (GIT) for Climate Resilience in Fiji and Vanuatu. For this week-long training, delivered as part of the capacity development activities of the CommonSensing project, UNOSAT adopted a blended-type of delivery method.

2 October 2020, Geneva, Switzerland – UNOSAT hosted the Regional Technical Webinar Series on Flood Forecasting, Early Warning Systems and Geospatial Information Technology (GIT) for Flood Risk Management for ECOWAS member states. This is part of a wider effort to support the ECOWAS region in building resilience to the flood events it is facing.

1 October 2020, Geneva, Switzerland - UNITAR Division for People and Social Inclusion launched ‘Coming Up Next’, a new UNITAR learning podcast, on 1st October. Coming Up Next, in collaboration with the CIFAL Global Network, and the Global Challenges Forum Foundation, is part of the 1M2030 youth initiative. The learning podcast focuses on providing a platform to celebrate and further encourage global youth leadership in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

28 September 2020, Jeju, South Korea- The International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders in Jeju (CIFAL Jeju) successfully concluded a series of learning webinars on “The European Green Deal”. The webinars aimed to introduce the Green Deal policies at the national and local levels for countries transitioning to more environmentally sustainable options. The Green Deal policy package aims to promote new development models that tackle pressing issues around climate change.

24 September 2020, Geneva, Switzerland - The Partnership for Action on Green Economy has launched a series of global e-learning products that address key policy issues central to the green recovery debate. The six online courses are free, self-paced, and can act as an invaluable building block as countries plan their economic responses to COVID-19—serving to inform and shape the public policy debate around green economic reform.