As the new United States Administration defines its foreign policy priorities and partnerships, UNITAR is revamping its collaboration with the U.S. Administration by extending its expertise in sustained capacity development, expertise which has been welcomed as a “soft power” approach to international cooperation within the region and beyond.

 

The recently-held 2009 UNITAR Regional Training was organized in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Thirty eight mid and senior-level government officials, senior advisors to presidents and prime ministers, as well as African Union and UN peace operation staff on the continent took part. Participants engaged in conflict analysis, negotiation and mediation simulations. Case studies examined peacemaking processes in Somalia, Sudan and other regions.

UNOSAT and UNICRI decided to formalise their collaboration in a recent exchange of letters.
 

On 2 March 2009, the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Edwin N. Forlemu, ACBF Executive Secretary a.i., signed on behalf of ACBF and Carlos Lopes, United nations Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UNITAR, signed on behalf of UNITAR.

As part of a joint ongoing UNITAR/IDI/UNCTAD Global Project to train Public Debt Audit Officials in ‘Auditing Public Debt Management’, a survey was conducted (February 2009) to assess the feasibility of using distance learning and e-Learning as part of the training process. The survey questionnaire was sent to Sovereign Audit Institutions (SAIs) of 28 developing and emerging economies with a view to study the e-Learning readiness of these institutions.

6 April 2009
Nairobi, Kenya

In its April session, the Global Project Board welcomed UNITAR as an Associate Partner of the Global Project on "Measuring the Progress of Societies". The Global Project, which is hosted by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) and run in collaboration with other international and regional partners seeks to become the world wide reference point for those who wish to measure, and assess the progress of their societies.

With outreach, cost-effectiveness and flexibility in mind, UNITAR will use its time-tested and innovative methodology of e-Learning (online training) to train public finance officials from Ibero-American nations.
In the coming months, UNITAR will develop and deploy four six-week e-Learning courses, on themes including negotiation skills, intellectual property and capital markets. These will be offered for free to the public sector, civil society and academic institutions, thanks to generous support from the Spanish government.