annual report
2020
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Introduction
INTRODUCTION
Learning Snapshot
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
ADVANCE KNOWLEDGE
INTRODUCTION
Build diverse skill sets
Promote learning on climate change
Develop digital skills
Offer free access to new skills and knowledge
Create flexible and inculisve customized learing
Promote knowledge sharing among youth changemakers
Collaborate & Partnerships
INTRODUCTION
Build on the untapped power of collaboration
Advance public and private sector partnerships
Upskill and reskill for integrated responses
Promoting system-wide knowledge sharing
INNOVATE & ADAPT
INTRODUCTION
Build future-fit leaders
Fast track digital learning
Fuel transformational change
Promote dialogue for Innovation
Invest in gender transformative learning
About UNSSC
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Focus Area II:
Collaborate and foster
partnerships

We led programmes and initiatives to empower UN staff and partners to collaborate system-wide to break down silos and foster partnerships with public and private stakeholders.

Amidst the crisis, the College developed learning programmes to support partnership building and collaboration both across the UN and with civil society partners. Courses and initiatives brought together personnel from different UN agencies and partner organizations to provide opportunities for staff to break down silos and work across the UN’s three pillars – human rights, peace and security and development – both internally and in partnership with others to encourage synergies.

UNSSC
rose to the challenge to:

UNSSC
rose to the challenge to:

Build on the untapped power of collaboration

In 2020 the College joined forces with the United Nations Development Coordination Office (DCO) to launch two customized online learning offerings to support the effective implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) and Business Operations Strategies 2.0. The two offerings co-designed with DCO were an important contribution for both programme and operations staff who will need knowledge and expertise to collaborate and increase UN effectiveness and efficiency to contribute to a UN system that delivers on its mandates in a post-pandemic world.

A partnership with the German Development Institute and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) saw the College address the learning needs of public officials and civil servants during the COVID-19 pandemic. The "Building Back Better: Strengthening capacities of Schools of Public Administration in a Post-Covid-19 World” learning programme strengthened knowledge of the 2030 Agenda and reinforced the key role that public administrators play in contributing to broad-based multi-stakeholder coalitions to influence change. The programme helped prepare them to build, maintain and leverage networks, coalitions and partnerships.

testimonial

UN Emerging Leaders E-Learning (UNEL-e)

“The course has improved my ability to work collaboratively with my other UN agency colleagues, and, in that regard, made me a more confident leader, particularly when working outside of my area of technical expertise.”

- Dr. Rufus Ewing, Country Programme Advisor (Caribbean) at the World Health Organization (WHO

UNSSC
rose to the challenge to:

UNSSC
rose to the challenge to:

Advance public and private sector partnerships

Collaboration between private- and public-sector entities added valuable new perspectives at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In support of UN staff and partners engaging with private sector entities, the College delivered learning on “Unleashing the Power of the Private Sector for the 2030 Agenda”.

This was a timely offering as UN entities were seeking to collaborate with different organizations to protect hard-won development gains. Participants were introduced to the different types of private sector entities, and they gained crucial skills on how to strategically engage with them in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Cooperation between local governments and different peace actors is becoming fundamental in peace agreements and national post-conflict peacebuilding agendas. In 2020, the College re-scoped the “Decentralized Governance and Peacebuilding" course to aid a clearer understanding of local governance and decentralization as they relate to conflict and peacebuilding contexts. The learning offering proved fundamental for empowering practitioners of regional institutions, national governments and civil society organizations to form partnerships and have a common approach to analyzing and sustaining decentralization reforms.

To scale learning opportunities that drive holistic thinking and integrated approaches as well as foster collaborative partnerships, the College, together with UNITAR, promoted learning on a unique online platform: UN SDG: Learn.

Upskill and reskill for integrated responses

The College moved swiftly to advance programmes and initiatives to help UN entities and relevant partners redefine collaboration and support their teams to find solutions in the new normal. The “Integrated Analysis for Sustaining Peace Writing Course” promoted an integrated analytical approach for peace and security practitioners seeking to have a common approach to undertaking integrated analysis using different methodologies adopted by the UN. To scale learning opportunities that drive holistic thinking and integrated approaches as well as foster collaborative partnerships, the College, together with UNITAR, promoted learning on UN SDG: Learn, an online platform that hosts learning opportunities on sustainable development. UN SDG: Learn features courses and micro-learning on sustainable development from 57 organizations working together to develop and enhance programmes and initiatives to address knowledge gaps and provide sustainable development learning.

testimonial

SDG Primer offered through The UN SDG: Learn

“We are taking steps to adapt our programmes, our skillsets, and mindsets to respond to the paradigm shift of the 2030 Agenda. This SDG Primer course aims to strengthen that work. It will help achieve conceptual clarity on the 2030 Agenda and its integrated nature.”

- Amina J. Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General

The College had participants take part in dialogue that led to actionable insights into collaboration, re-imagining our work and dealing with uncertainty.

Promoting system-wide knowledge sharing

In 2020, 3,500 people registered for 40 "Coffee Hour” webinars geared towards promoting system-wide knowledge sharing. The College tapped into different topics to have participants take part in dialogue that provided actionable insights for collaboration, re-imagining our work and dealing with uncertainty. The most popular sessions, attended by nearly 200 participants, were: “Data and Climate Security: How Climate Security Data Analytics Can Support Integrated Analysis for Sustaining Peace”, “Navigating Uncertainty – Your Stories, Learning for Future Resiliency”, “Climate Security for Sustaining Peace”, “The future of Multilateralism in a Post COVID-19 World”, and “Sustaining Peace in a Climate Change World: Why Climate Change matters to conflict mediation.” Many of these sessions were also delivered as Staff College side events during the 2020 Berlin Climate Security Forum.