UN Fellows Online Orientation Workshop

The UN Fellows Orientation workshop is an integral part of the Italian Fellowships Programme for Technical Cooperation Capacity Building and Human Resources Development, which is sponsored by the Government of Italy and implemented by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN/DESA). Through this Programme, young skilled professionals are selected for a one-year placement in the field offices of either International Organizations or the Italian Development Cooperation. The workshop is customized to the professional development needs of UN fellows irrespective of their future duty stations and functions. The overall goal is to provide UN fellows relevant information, knowledge, tools, skills and resources to strengthen their operational capacities in the field of bilateral and multilateral international cooperation and to raise their awareness about various situations they might encounter during their placement. The Workshop combines self-guided study of on-line modules, plenary instruction sessions associated with group work and self-guided group work assisted by a coach. The modality is entirely on-line with an e campus, synchronous Zoom sessions and sessions in Virtual Reality. The workshop fosters knowledge exchange and experience sharing and peer-to-peer learning. OBJECTIVES The overall goal was to provide UN fellows relevant information, knowledge, tools, skills and resources to strengthen their operational capacities in the field of bilateral and multilateral international cooperation and to raise their awareness about various situations they might encounter during their placement. The workshop catered for the professional development needs of UN fellows whichever their future duty stations and functions. More specifically, upon successful completion of this workshop, UN Fellows: • Know and understand the priorities and operational mechanisms of the Italian cooperation system; • Are familiar and can describe the core substance and processes related to the 2030 Agenda; • Have knowledge and concrete understanding of the UN reform process; • Have a concrete understanding of and can explain the UN programming approaches and tools at country level; • Dispose of the knowledge and skills in project cycle management and project design, to design a project concept and project proposal; • Are empowered to manage their life and career at this stage with increased self-awareness and instruments of self-management; • Understand the challenges and behaviour requirements for safety, health and stress management in their country of destination; • Are able to communicate effectively in and about the field of development cooperation; • Are able to design and present contents in a Virtual Reality environment; • Dispose of a personal inter-agency peer network. CONTENT The online Orientation Workshop has been an opportunity to increase knowledge and to facilitate a better understanding of the following topics: • United Nations – The reform process; 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals; UN coordination at country level; national-level processes and tools to mainstream, finance and review the SDGs; humanitarian-development nexus; • The Italian Development Cooperation – The new institutional and operation framework of the Italian Development Cooperation; AICS Country Offices: role and responsibilities; UN-AICS coordination at country level; • Workplace Skills – Project design, monitoring and evaluation; effective presentation; safety and security, health and stress management; communication for development; capacity development for development cooperation; self-leadership and empowerment and successful communication; • Networking and Experience Sharing – Knowledge sharing and networking through exchange among participants and with experts.