As we bid 2014 farewell, we would like to take this opportunity to reflect on several of our key accomplishments during the past year. At the start of the year, we launched our United Nations Renewal programme with a concerted and energized effort to catalyse changes within the UN Development System. With seminars held in Rio to Rome, Geneva to New York, our work continues to gain real momentum to bring about a revitalised UN. In our Building Peace programme, we brought regional actors together to enhance the UN’s review of the peacebuilding institutions through bridge-building meetings and inclusivity studies. On the road to the Post-2015 Development Agenda, we co-hosted a monthly seminar series in Stockholm with UNDP and extended our reach into other regions connecting civil society with the on-going post-2015 process at the UN. Our work within the Global Disorders – A New Global Order? programme continues with focus on one of the most important global health issues of this century – antibiotics resistance. And, as the year drew to a close, we were honored to host Helen Clark – Head of UNDP and former New Zealand Prime Minister to deliver the 2014 Dag Hammarskjöld Lecture, the 16th honoree to do so since the lecture series was initiated two decades ago. We finish the year with the start of a new project, the Integrity of the International Civil Servant, which takes as its beacon Dag Hammarskjöld’s legacy and diplomatic principles — just as relevant today, nearly 70 years after the founding of the UN.
In addition, our website has been updated, making it easier for visitors to explore our Development Dialogue series, take note of our events, and follow and connect with our work. We hope you will stay with us as we continue to strengthen and deepen our work in these areas.
We wish you season’s greetings and a joyful and prosperous year ahead.