15 June 2020, Geneva, Switzerland – UNITAR’s Division for Prosperity successfully completed a SIDA-funded pilot programme on “Frontier Technologies for Sustainable Development: Unlocking Women’s Entrepreneurship through Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Afghanistan and Iraq” which benefitted 32 women entrepreneurs from various sectors in the 2 countries.

10 June 2020, Geneva, Switzerland - The renewed and expanded partnership between UNITAR Division for Peace and the World Humanitarian Forum (WHF) aims to address the limitations imposed by the pandemic to ensure training and development can be delivered uninterrupted and more importantly, to ensure that no one is left behind. In May, the two partners launched WHF Learning – an online platform that intends to increase the awareness of available free distance learning opportunities for professionals in the international community and beyond. WHF Learning is a part of the broader WHF Digital Series that includes open interactive webinars, online courses and podcasts.

10 June 2020, Geneva, Switzerland - This March, UNITAR Division for Peace and the Justice and Corrections Service (JCS) of the Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions (OROLSI), United Nations Department of Peace Operations (UN DPO), partnered to developed two new operational documents designed to support collective COVID-19 response within the justice, security and corrections sector.

29 May 2020, Geneva, Switzerland - Held on the occasion of the International Day of UN Peacekeepers 2020, this online expert briefing focused on the future of peacekeeping:
- How will peacekeeping respond to likely funding shortages, and to working in environments weakened by the three “I”-s: instability, inequality, and infectious disease?
- How should capacity building initiatives change in order to mitigate some of the challenges identified above, allowing peacekeepers to implement the mandate more safely and efficiently, in line with the A4P framework?
- What is the short, medium, and long-term gendered impact of this crisis on individual peacekeepers’ well-being? What approaches can be used to help them help others?
Organised in the format of an interactive and open-to-all discussion, the briefing features not only the informed insights of the panelists, but also a virtual Q&A session.

9 June 2020, Geneva, Switzerland - In response to the persistent and unprecedented COVID-19 challenge and committed to the promotion of inclusive sustainable development, UNITAR and Solarkiosk have launched a multi-sectoral, multi-partner collaboration to support preparedness and response on the African continent, at the national level. This integrated multi-level public-private partnership aims to provide solar-powered equipment and infrastructure for screening, testing and treatment of the general population with the help of mobile, solar-powered laboratories. The project constitutes a real, practical and feasible solution that will help to tackle the growing COVID-19 risks in Africa, thereby saving thousands of lives.

5 June 2020, Kennesaw, USA – UNITAR’s International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders in Atlanta (CIFAL Atlanta) successfully concluded today a week-long “Education for Sustainability and Human Rights Virtual Seminar” held 1-5 June 2020. During the 5-day virtual seminar, funded by the Miner Anderson Family Foundation, K-12 teacher participants across the State of Georgia have been learning about the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, exploring the attributes of global citizenship and human rights, and developing ideas for how to utilize these attributes in the classroom. The main goal of this seminar is for teachers in Georgia within every grade level to learn tools to authentically examine and integrate Human Rights as well as Sustainable Development issues and initiatives into their students’ educational experiences.

Ethiopia and UN CC:Learn have developed the guideline 'Integrating Climate Change into the Ethiopian Curriculum - An Annotated Guideline for Curriculum Developers' which was accepted into the current curriculum reform process. As next steps, the partnership will look at training of textbook authors on developing climate change content for climate change carrier subjects and climate change teaching in early 2020. 

Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) has launched a new summer course on Green Industry starting in July. Check out how to register!

Launched on 20 May 2020, a new consortium project Crowd4SDG will aim to examine opportunities for leveraging citizen science for monitoring climate impacts and achieving climate resilience. It is Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Action supported by the European Commission's Science with and for Society (SwafS) programme. In addition to UNITAR, the consortium coordinated by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) includes a number of other leading European research centers and University: Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Polytechnic University of Milan (POLIMI), Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity of University of Paris (UPD) and CERN.

19 May 2020, Atlanta, USA – UNITAR in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology, Kennesaw State University and CIFAL Atlanta hosted a virtual showcase to present their “Youth & Sustainable Development Goals” online training programme aimed at empowering young leaders to implement solutions that advance the global goals.