The UN Reflection Series is a 2 ¹/₂ day interactive learning event facilitating knowledge sharing between renowned experts and practitioners in international development cooperation in a 'non-UN' setting.

This is an annual learning event. It provides UN staff members as well as government and civil society representatives, academics, practitioners and others, the opportunity to learn about and discuss contemporary international development issues within the context of the ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ and the ground-breaking ‘Paris Agreement on climate change’, develop functional strategies for the future and promote knowledge sharing in an innovative setting.

The theme of the UN Reflections Series 2016 will be “Development Cooperation, Policy Advice and Middle Income Countries.” Development partners must build their own capacity to provide effective policy advisory services in these (new) areas. And, with institutions like the UN, it is vital that it does so building on its normative role as a real comparative advantage.

The United Nations System Staff College, with the involvement of UNDG and UN DOCO, will use its unique position as the UN inter-agency knowledge sharing institution to bring together experts from the UN system to share experiences and contribute to the ongoing process of shaping a coherent, innovative and effective development approach to Middle Income Countries (MICs) and their specific needs within the framework of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. To ensure a broader outlook and external involvement in the discussion, the UNSSC is partnering with the Hertie School of Governance, based in Berlin, Germany.

Through the partnership with the Hertie School of Governance, academics and development actors from outside the UN will be invited to exchange knowledge, experience and expertise with each other and with colleagues from across the UN system. As Germany’s foremost international policy school, the Hertie School of Governance will lead the discussions on the role of policy advice in international development and offer practical clinics to develop skills for providing policy advisory services in different fields of development cooperation.

See Programme here.

Participation in the event is open to UN staff, government and civil society representatives, academics, practitioners and consultants, among others.