Learning and training wiki:About

The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) was established in 1965 as an autonomous body within the United Nations with the purpose of enhancing the effectiveness of the Organization through appropriate training and research.

UNITAR’s mission is to deliver innovative training and conduct research on knowledge systems to develop the capacity of beneficiaries. To concretize this mission UNITAR implements various training activities in the field of sustainable development, supporting developing countries to enhance the capacity of their civil servants. The Institute operates on the principle that only carefully designed and implemented training programmes can make a lasting contribution to capacity development at the national level.

With the purpose of harmonizing and standardizing the terminology in its training activities UNITAR started compiling a glossary of terms for staff involved in the development and implementation of training activities. This training terminology will be used to support our internal trainers in preparing their courses, providing more clarity in the use of terms related to training. It has therefore a pure educational purpose.

The glossary has not been developed as a novelty work. In most of the cases it is a research compilation of definitions already available in a number of websites, articles, books and various other sources available on-line, with all the sources being acknowledged. As the intention is creating a dynamic environment where trainers can contribute new elements to the terms, the glossary will be available to the United Nations System through a 2.0 website.