By Michelle Gyles-McDonnough, UNITAR Executive Director
On United Nations Day, we are reminded of the enduring commitment made by the Organization’s founding Member States to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, uphold human rights and dignity, advance justice, and work collectively for a more peaceful, sustainable and equitable world.
These values and principles enshrined in the UN Charter are as relevant today as they were more than eight decades ago. Yet the world is changing at an unprecedented pace.Geopolitical tensions, climate disruption, technological transformation and widening inequalities are reshaping scieties and challenging institutions everywhere to adapt. As countries strive to reach their goals amidst uncertainty and complexity, success depends not only on expanding what they know, but also how quickly they can learn, innovate, and translate knowledge and capabilities into better decisions, stronger implementation and more sustainable outcomes.
This is the context behind the Secretary-General’s UN80 Initiative for a more agile, effective, and future-ready United Nations. It is also the context behind the General Assembly’s decision to create the United Nations Institute for Capability and Learning Innovation (UNICLI), through the merger of United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) on 1 January 2027.
UNICLI: Building an Institution Fit for the Future
UNICLI is more than institutional change. It is an opportunity to rethink how the United Nations supports learning, capability development, and institutional transformation to navigate complexity, drive innovation, and achieve results.
By bringing together complementary strengths of UNITAR and UNSSC, UNICLI will provide Member States, UN personnel and partners with a more coherent, accessible and responsive platform for learning and capacity development. The response from across the UN system, Member States, and our global community of learners has been overwhelmingly positive, reflecting a shared recognition that in a rapidly changing world, traditional approaches are no longer sufficient to meet today’s challenges.
Over recent months, UNITAR and UNSSC have united around a common vision, value proposition, and operating model of the new institution. Together, we are building a more connected, innovative and impactful institution, better equipped to support transformation at every level.
Investing in Our Common Future: The Opportunity for All of Us
Today, we renew hope and our commitment to peace, sustainable development, justice, human rights and a healthy planet. Effective multilateralism depends both on our willingness to work together and our capability to do so. Investing in knowledge skills and institutional capacity is therefore an investment in our common future.
As we mark United Nations Day, let us reaffirm our commitment to the Charter by defending its principles and strengthening our capacity to deliver on them. Through UNICLI, we are creating a new generation institution for a new generation of challenges, one that helps transform learning into capability, capability into action, and action into lasting impact for people and planet.
