ONU Annual Report 2015

2015 has been the year of the historic adoption of the new Sustainable Development Agenda: Transforming our World. Innovation and transformation are indeed today’s priorities for the United Nations.

In line with this spirit and to boost its potentials to act as a change agent for the entirety of the UN system, the College embarked upon a far-reaching process of transformation.

Two critical initiatives have been among the main drivers of our work in 2015: the creation of the Bonn-based Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Development (KCSD) and the creation of the UN Lab for Organizational Change and Knowledge (UNLOCK). Their conceptualization and implementation represent the centrepiece of the achievements of this year, while the College continued in its effort to consolidate and further expand its regular portfolio.

Finally, the College continued to invest in new technology-enhanced learning and mobile learning products resulting in a growing number of participants receiving virtual training.
This investment has proven to be an effective means of reaching a larger portion of the UN staff at a lower cost, maintaining the College at the forefront of learning innovation.
The year 2015 was an exciting and challenging time for us, and I have the privilege to present you a glimpse of it through our annual report.

Jafar Javan
UNSSC Director

The UNSSC was established on 1 January 2002, by the United Nations General Assembly’s Resolution A/RES/55/278.
To serve as a system-wide knowledge management and learning institution, with a view to fostering a cohesive management culture across the United Nations system.
To provide the skills and knowledge to empower the most valuable resource of the UN system: our people.
To contribute to a more effective, results-oriented and agile United Nations through learning, training and knowledge dissemination.
The UNSSC is based in Turin, Italy and, since 2016, it has opened the Centre for Sustainable Development in Bonn, Germany.
The UNSSC has 39 staff members, 69% directly engaged in learning and training activities.
Every year, we offer approximately 100 learning events, benefiting over 8,000 UN staff on average.
Residential courses on the UN campuses, e-learning opportunities, as well as “at the door” training in some 60 countries annually.
Helping the diverse staff of the UN system to learn together, share experiences, and formulate joint solutions to the challenges facing the UN.
We are part of the UN family, so we know what it means to work in the United Nations ­– be it in the field or at headquarters, in middle-income countries, in programmes or in operations, in entry-level or in management positions.
We bring together UN staff from across the system in a truly inter-agency spirit to learn from each other, exchange views on common issues, and build networks to continue learning beyond the classroom.
We blend external expertise with practical UN experience. Courses feature subject-matter experts and thought leaders from renowned academic institutions, think tanks, the private sector and civil society, as well as experienced UN practitioners.
We offer residential courses in state-of-the-art facilities on the UN Campuses in Turin, Italy and Bonn, Germany. We also deliver training in over 50 countries each year, thanks to our mobile team of trainers.
Our distance learning courses combine self-paced online learning with live sessions with the course instructor and participants from across the UN system worldwide. UN staff can learn how they want, when they want, and still benefit from an interactive experience.
We design and deliver customized learning programmes on-demand to meet the specific needs of organizations, departments, peace operations, or inter-agency groups.
Leadership Development
Management Development
Peace & Security
Sustainable Development and Agenda 2030
Knowledge Management
The UNSSC Knowledge Centre for
Sustainable Development (KCSD)
The UN Lab for Organizational
Change and Knowledge (UNLOCK)
The Secretary-General's Retreat
Executive Master in Management of International Organizations (EMMIO)
New mobile learning apps launched
In 2015, the College inaugurated the Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Development in Bonn, which delivers on a comprehensive new set of offerings, aiming at building the capacity of UN staff on sustainable development and on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The Centre serves as a catalyst and convener of dialogue and knowledge sharing on sustainable development between UN staff and a diverse set of stakeholders from academia, the private sector and civil society.
The UNLOCK programme aims at enhancing the capacity of the UN system to manage change by increasing the understanding of, commitment to, and capacity of its staff to manage and lead change. UNLOCK carries out two types of interventions: advisory services and learning activities. Advisory services support UN entities’ in implementing comprehensive organizational change processes. Learning interventions include both formal and informal learning activities, including training, workshops, coaching, communities of practice and self-directed learning.
On 19 and 20 March 2015, the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, held his sixth Retreat with senior officials in Turin, organized by the College. The Deputy Secretary-General and almost 70 UN senior advisors, comprising all Under-Secretaries- General and Assistant Secretaries-General including Heads of Funds and Programmes, attended the Retreat to actively debate the global challenges facing the UN.
In 2015 the College developed, together with Bocconi University and the International Training Centre of the ILO (ITC/ILO), an Executive Master in Management of International Organizations, focused on topics and requirements that are particularly relevant to the UN system. The EMMIO is considered as unique within the UN system, since, for the first time, participants have the opportunity to take specific courses developed by two UN learning institutions. EMMIO attracted 22 students, 19 UN staff from 11 Agencies and 16 duty stations.
In June 2015 the College released through the iTunes Store the “UN Facilitator’s Cookbook”, its first mobile learning app (iOS). A second new mobile learning app “UNSSC PeerTalk” has also been released through the GooglePlay and iTunes stores.
The UNSSC Knowledge Centre for
Sustainable Development (KCSD)

In 2015, the College inaugurated the Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Development in Bonn, which delivers on a comprehensive new set of offerings, aiming at building the capacity of UN staff on sustainable development and on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The Centre serves as a catalyst and convener of dialogue and knowledge sharing on sustainable development between UN staff and a diverse set of stakeholders from academia, the private sector and civil society.

The UN Lab for Organizational
Change and Knowledge (UNLOCK)

The UNLOCK programme aims at enhancing the capacity of the UN system to manage change by increasing the understanding of, commitment to, and capacity of its staff to manage and lead change. UNLOCK carries out two types of interventions: advisory services and learning activities. Advisory services support UN entities’ in implementing comprehensive organizational change processes. Learning interventions include both formal and informal learning activities, including training, workshops, coaching, communities of practice and self-directed learning.

The Secretary-General's Retreat

On 19 and 20 March 2015, the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, held his sixth Retreat with senior officials in Turin, organized by the College. The Deputy Secretary-General and almost 70 UN senior advisors, comprising all Under-Secretaries- General and Assistant Secretaries-General including Heads of Funds and Programmes, attended the Retreat to actively debate the global challenges facing the UN.

Executive Master in Management of International Organizations (EMMIO)

In 2015 the College developed, together with Bocconi University and the International Training Centre of the ILO (ITC/ILO), an Executive Master in Management of International Organizations, focused on topics and requirements that are particularly relevant to the UN system. The EMMIO is considered as unique within the UN system, since, for the first time, participants have the opportunity to take specific courses developed by two UN learning institutions. EMMIO attracted 22 students, 19 UN staff from 11 Agencies and 16 duty stations.

New mobile learning apps launched

In June 2015 the College released through the iTunes Store the “UN Facilitator’s Cookbook”, its first mobile learning app (iOS). A second new mobile learning app “UNSSC PeerTalk” has also been released through the GooglePlay and iTunes stores.

Each year, the College attracts a diverse faculty of world-renowned speakers, subject-matter experts, and UN champions.
Charles Crawford
Public speaking and negotiation expert, and former British Ambassador to Poland
Guy Ryder
ILO Director-General
Thomas Weiss
Presidential Professor of Political Science at The CUNY Graduate Center
John Sexton
President, New York University
Amina J. Mohammed
Special Adviser to the Secretary General on Post-2015 Development Planning
Linsey Addario
Photojournalist and Author
José Manuel Durão Barroso
President of the European Commission (2004-2014) and Prime Minister of Portugal (2002-2004)
Sigrid Kaag
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon
Thoraya Obaid
Member, Shura Council, Saudi Arabia
Winnie Byanyima
Executive Director, Oxfam
DIRECT TRAINING: 0 participants
UN staff directly trained by the College either through face-to-face or distance learning activities
INDIRECT TRAINING (SSAFE): 0 participants
UN staff trained by UNSSC certified trainers through the multiplier effect of the “training of trainers”
USERS OF ONLINE TOOLS: 0
TOTAL BENEFICIARIES: 0
Back
Overall relevance
Quality of facilitation and teaching methodology
Overall satisfaction
Recommendation rate
Chair of the Board
Edmond Mulet, UN Chef de Cabinet, Executive Office of the Secretary-General
2015 Members
Janice Dunn Lee, Deputy Director-General and Head of the Department of Management, IAEA
Getachew Engida, Deputy Director-General, UNESCO
Tegegnework Gettu, Associate Administrator, UNDP
Navid Hanif, Director Office of ECOSOC Support and Coordination, UNDESA
Elliot Harris, Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Office, UNEP
Manoj Juneja, Assistant Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer, WFP
Jane Stewart, ILO Special Representative to the United Nations and Vice-Chair of the HLCP, ILO
Carole Wainaina, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management, OHRM
Ex-officio Members
Jafar Javan, Director, UNSSC
Nikhil Seth, Executive Director, UNITAR
Simona Petrova, Acting Secretary and Director, CEB
TOTAL: 6,803,750 US $
TOTAL: 508,000 US $