Annual Report 2023 - Centre of excellence

Centre of excellence

UNSSC leads the way by offering learning opportunities on cutting-edge topics that are relevant to the UN and its partners. Some of our programmes are specifically designed for senior public service leaders and managers at the top of their organizations, departments, ministries, and NGOs. Our global approach builds cultural competency and participants say they come to learn from our faculty, our research and from one another. Alumni report increased confidence in their ability to navigate ambiguity, lead teams and solve public policy issues in areas like sustainable development, climate action, peace and security and innovation.

Digital Technologies

Positive Culture

Climate Change

Positioning digital technologies to advance the green transition

Learning that caters to the intersection of digital transformation and sustainable development

Hyper-digital connectivity, new software and smart machines are disrupting lifestyles and societies and transforming the natural landscape faster than ever before. While many are familiar with the buzzwords, few people and organizations are effectively digitalizing, leveraging new technologies and implementing responsible digital strategies to support sustainable environmental development.

The Digital4Sustainability Learning Path explores the intersection of digital transformation and sustainable development. It encompasses four e-learning modules launched from 2022 through 2024. The learning path was developed by UNSSC and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in collaboration with the German development agency (GIZ), the European Union, the Coalition for Digital Environmental Sustainability (CODES), and the Office of the UN Technology Envoy.

The Learning Path continues to play an important role in disseminating knowledge and leveraging digital solutions to advance environmental and social sustainability. Since its launch, about 16,000 people around the world have taken the course, gaining a greater appreciation for how digital technologies can be catalysts for green transitions and for sustainable development efforts globally. The course uniquely positions digital technologies as a catalyst for the green transition, contributing to the enhancement of sustainable development.

“I highly endorse UNSSC’s free sustainability courses, especially the Digital4Sustainability Learning Path. It offers abundant practical guidance and effectively encourages businesses to engage in meaningful actions that foster positive transformations within their operations and supply chain networks.”

Helen McInnes, Global Manufacturing Marketing Lead, Avanade

Creating a positive culture for senior UN managers & leaders

A tailored programme designed to enhance senior leaders’ roles as effective conveners and connectors in the system

Making the UN Secretary General’s Common Agenda a reality requires visionary leaders who can help build and accelerate positive innovations. The UN Leaders Programme for Directors (D1/D2) of the UN system prepares senior UN leaders to become more effective conveners and connectors, enabling progress on the vision for UN 2.0.

For over 15 years, this programme has been helping directors return to their posts more confident, capable and better equipped to take on new challenges. An emphasis is placed on evidence-based, peer learning modalities, mentored by leadership experts and practitioners from within and outside the UN. It’s an opportunity for UN leaders to learn from and connect with peers while expanding their leadership toolkit and enhancing their leadership practice to deliver results. Since 2009, the Staff College has hosted 39 cohorts of over 1,000 UN directors. After a brief stint online between 2021 and 2022, the programme evolved again, in 2023, as two cohorts of 85 directors met in Amman and Turin.

Drawing on the leadership and management expertise of the Staff College, we also develop bespoke leadership and management training solutions for entities across the UN System. Last year we created a tailored Leadership & Management Pathways Programme for senior executive leaders from the World Health Organization (WHO).

“A real tour de force. The UN Leaders Programme stands out and seizes your attention by showing how world-class leadership ideas apply to the UN context, with a clever blend of an impactful in-person week amidst meaningful virtual engagements. UNSSC truly sets the gold standard by crafting a purposeful curriculum, inviting faculty who leave a lasting impression, and sequencing events that result in an authentic learning experience.”

Stephen Slawsky, Director, Management Advisory and Compliance Service, UN-Habitat, Nairobi, Kenya

Pursuing solutions when climate change and conflicts collide

Dedicated training and dialogue spaces for environmental peace, and security experts

According to the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), approximately 3.3 to 3.6 billion people live in conditions highly vulnerable to climate change, and 70 percent of the most climate-vulnerable countries are among the most fragile. Disruptions to livelihoods, flare-ups over resources, and displacement heighten existing tensions and can provoke instability.

Collaborations between environmental, peace, and security experts are essential to address these challenges. Since 2020, the Staff College has been playing the role of knowledge broker and convener for inter-agency trainings, building on its reputation as the go-to learning institution for many UN organizations and professionals.

Thanks to financial support from the Government of Ireland and UNSSC’s strong partnership with the UN Climate Security Mechanism (made up of DPPA, DPO, UNEP, and UNDP), the Staff College provided trainings for peacekeeping, special political missions and UN country teams, as well as UN Agencies, Funds and Programmes, on climate risks analysis and the impact on peace and security, climate, peace and security programming for peacebuilding, and strategy building to mainstream climate, peace and security considerations into organizations’ workplans.

In 2023, tailored training courses and knowledge-management events reached over 450 participants from the UN and civil society. In the process, UNSSC has become a go-to learning provider for training on climate, peace and security. As a result, there has been an increased capacity at all levels of the UN to identify and understand climate impacts and related security risks.

“With the support of UNSSC and the facilitators’ innovative strategy-building methodology including Lego Serious Play, the training was a unique experience for participants to blend political, inclusion, development, and security considerations into analysis on future initiatives in this field in alignment with the United Nations New Agenda for Peace and the work of the Climate Security Mechanism.”

Katherine Reyes, Chief of Staff of the Office of the Special Envoy for Yemen