United Nations Secretary General visits UNU training programmes in Iceland
Recently, Mr Ban Ki-moon, UN´s Secretary General attended a meeting with representatives from the four UNU training programmes in Iceland – the Land Restoration, Geothermal, Fisheries and Gender Equality training programmes. The meeting took place at the National Museum of Iceland and the UNU-LRT Director, Dr Hafdis Hanna Aegisdotttir, introduced the activities and missions of the four respective programmes and how they meet the challenges presented in the newly adopted United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
At the meeting, fellows also gave input on their experience of the UNU training in Iceland and its impact on their work in their home countries. On behalf of UNU-LRT, Dr Bulgamaa Densambuu, a former UNU-LRT fellow from Mongolia, presented - through a video message – the impact of the UNU-LRT training on institutional capacity building in Mongolia. Eighteen professionals from Mongolia have now graduated from the UNU-LRT training programme. The training has had great impact on capacity building of the graduated professionals and their work places – making them better capable of meeting the challenges Mongolia is facing with land issues and climate change.
This is the second visit of the Secretary General in Iceland and to meet with representatives of the UNU training programmes in Iceland. The last time Mr Ban Ki-moon was here in 2013, two of the UNU-LRT fellows got the opportunity to meet with him and share their experience of the training and how it would benefit to their institutional capacity back home.
Photo: The UNU-LRT Team with Dr Arni Bragason, Director of the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland and Mr Ban Ki-moon