Int'l Organizations & UN News #8/2023

The world’s Least Developed Countries are in a race to deliver crucial global development goals by 2030.ÔÇ»This new decade needs to usher in a new global partnership to secure a better future for the world’s most vulnerable nations.ÔÇ»ÔÇ» 

With theÔÇ» IstanbulÔÇ» Programme ÔÇ»of Action for the Least Developed CountriesÔÇ» (IPoA) implementation period completed, a new conference is being held in two parts:

1. The adoption of the new Doha Programme of Action in New York on March 17, 2022; and
2. The main conference in Doha, Qatar on 5-9 March, 2023, which will identify actions and partnerships at the highest possible level, including Heads of State and Government, to deliver on this agenda. 74/232B. 

At the second part of LDC5, gathered leaders will:ÔÇ» 

1.  Undertake a comprehensive appraisal of the implementation of the Istanbul PoA;  

2. Mobilize additional international support measures and action in favour of LDCs; and  

3. Agree on a renewed partnership between LDCs and their development partners to overcome structural challenges, eradicate poverty, achieve internationally agreed development goals and enable graduation from the LDC category. 

The Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS) is the UN’s focal point for LDC5 Conference preparations. 

The High Representative for Least Developed Countries will be the Secretary-General of the Conference.

Join EPD and IO/UNS in a lunch talk with Radha Kulkarni (MPA/EPD 2017), Investment Manager, Innovative Finance Hub, Office of Innovation at UNICEF and is receiving the 2023 Emerging Leader Award at SIPA's Alumni Day later this March. Radha will give her insights on navigating the UN System from a SIPA Graduate's Perspective.

On March 8, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Fòs Feminista will host a side event to the 67th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women titled “Unlocking the Future of Gender Equality and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Through Technology.” Moderated by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health and co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Spain, Nepal and Luxembourg, this event will explore how emerging technologies can expand access to reproductive health information and services—and the legal, policy and human rights implications of these new digital tools.

The goal of achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women, adolescents and girls in all their diversity is embedded at the heart of the international community's efforts to address the most pressing global issues. The side event will serve to exchange about different approaches to Feminist Foreign Policymaking in different countries and regions.

The objective of the event is for participants to share best practices, lessons learned and challenges regarding the drafting, development and implementation of their respective feminist foreign policies, or feminist approaches to foreign policy. The event aims to provide insights on the different ways in which Feminist Foreign Policies can be a tool that is shaped under diverse national contexts and that responds to different priorities at the multilateral level.

Watch live on UN Live TV

STEM/Policy Career Pathways in International Organizations

 

How can students on the new STEM track at SIPA make the most of their visa advantages and technical skills to flourish in a career at international organisations like the World Bank and the United Nations?
This United Nations Association (SIPA-UNA) event will feature four SIPA alum who have just done that, come and learn more from their experiences in this route. The event will start with a presentation by Michael Goldstein giving a general overview of visa routes for international students.

Zoom link & registration here.

Building on the success of the previous years' event, this year's in-person International Organizations & United Nations Roundtable Conversations gives students the opportunity to speak with 20+ staff members from a range of international organizations in intimate small group discussions. Invited experts represent UNDP, IOM, DPPA, World Bank, UNFPA, DESA, OCHA, OECD, ILO, and many others.

Unlike other networking events, the virtual roundtable conversation format will ensure that students have significant facetime with three IO officials, opening the door for meaningful relationship building. About six students will share a roundtable with one of our featured experts to discuss their work and experiences on the role of international organizations to foster development, cooperation, peace, human rights, climate change, and prosperity. Students will spend 30min each at three roundtables to enable them to have a range of conversations.

After 3 rounds of structured roundtables, all participants are invited to join the reception on the 15th floor that allows participants to connect with other experts.

Ever wondered how to get a job at the UN? Wondering how the UN recruitment process works and how best to prepare for the UN interview?

In this IO/UNS Career Talk, Professor Daniel Naujoks, director of SIPA's International Organization and UN Studies specialization, shares key pointers on how you can use your time at SIPA to:

• Build expertise & a hirable profile (skill & resume-building)
• Build & nurture networks 
• Understand processes, paperwork, & markers to land one of the coveted jobs at the UN.

SIPA students have the option to attend in person or online (see the different registration options). 

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has shaken political institutions and the ways they prioritize some issues over others. In the United Nations system divided into programs and agencies working on separate issue areas, such a crisis challenges those in charge of promoting long-term concerns. Professor Lucile Maertens and Dr. Luis Rivera-Vélez from the University of Lausanne share insights into how UN actors keep an issue, which is not seen as a priority, on the agenda in times of crisis? Based on an investigation of the UN environmental agenda in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Maertens  and Rivera-Vélez highlight the practices through which UN staff attempts to maintain the environment on the agenda at the operational and policy levels. 

In conversation with Daniel Naujoks, Director, International Organization & UN Studies, School of International and Public Affairs and Fabien Cottier, Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Center for International Earth Science Information Network of Columbia University. 

Columbia students, faculty and staff may attend in person; others please join us virtually. Please see the different registration options.