The Careers and Professional Development Office of the College of Europe in Natolin in cooperation with the United Nations Association in Poland organized a capacity building programme on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs) for Natolin students. The programme took place over two weekends: on Saturday, 30 and Sunday, 31 January, and on Saturday, 6 February 2021.
During the first weekend, our students benefited from five modules delivered by senior officials and UN officials covering inter alia the following topics:
- Overview on the 17 SDGs and their links with each other;
- The Wicked Problems notion in the SDGs context;
- The unseen ties between the local and the global in SDGs;
- Network governance and consensus building in international organizations;
- Balance between SDGs strategies and economy with a special focus on Climate change;
- Successful negotiation: basic strategies and skills.
During the second weekend, Natolin students took part in a UN General Assembly simulation exercise where they were assigned – individually – a member state to represent and put the acquired knowledge into practice.
Guest speakers
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Mogens LYKKETOFT is the elected President of the United Nations General Assembly’s 70th session (UNGA). At the time of his election, he was the Speaker (President) of the Danish Parliament, a position he has held since 2011. During his mandate as President of the UNGA, Mr LYKKETOFT’s goal was to support Member States to implement their ambitious and transformative 2030 Agenda through a New Commitment to Action. |
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Paloma CUCHÍ has been the Representative of WHO to the Republic of Poland and the Head of the Country Office in Warsaw since October 2018. Dr CUCHÍ has more than 26 years of experience in public health in the UN System, in the civil society and in the private sectors. She has held technical and managerial leadership positions in WHO, PAHO, UNAIDS, and UNITAID. Some of her areas of work were no-communicable diseases and risk factors; health promotion; aging; health emergencies and disasters response; access to medicines; HIV and other communicable diseases; migration; gender, equity and human rights; sustainable development goals. She holds a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zaragoza and a Master’s in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. |
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Rafał TRZASKOWSKI is the Mayor of the capital city of Warsaw since 2018. Prior to his election he served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister of Poland Donald TUSK as Minister of Administration and Digitization. Between 2009 and 2013, he was Member of the 7th term of the European Parliament. Dr TRZASKOWSKI received his PhD in political science from the University of Warsaw, where he wrote his dissertation about the "Dynamics of European Union Institutional reform". Dr Rafał TRZASKOWSKI is an alumnus of the College of Europe in Natolin, in the Alexis de Tocqueville Promotion (1996-1997). |
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Jörg RAAB is Associate Professor of Policy and Organization Studies at Tilburg University and the Director of the International Bachelor Global Management of Social Issues at Tilburg University. His current research mainly focuses on the management and effectiveness of inter-organizational networks and wicked problems. Prof. RAAB has taught classes in the area of public administration, organization theory, social and organizational networks in Germany, the U.S.A. and the Netherlands at various academic levels. He has published in the area of public and non-profit organizations, social networks, dark networks, and team in German, Dutch and English. |
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Kamil WYSZKOWSKI is Representative and President of the Board at UN Global Compact Network Poland. Between 2002-2009, he served the United Nations Development Program, where he was responsible for international and multilateral cooperation as well as for the development of programs in Europe and Asia. Mr WYSZKOWSKI also lectured at several universities and institutions, such as the Central European University in Bucharest, the Catholic University of Lviv, the Warsaw School of Economics, Kozminski University, the Institute of Diplomacy Ignacy Paderewski at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and at the University of Warsaw. |
Detailed programme
Saturday, 30 January 2021
- 10:00 // "Overview on the 17 SDGs, their origins and development" – Mr Mogens LYKKETOFT, President of the United Nations General Assembly’s 70th (via Zoom)
- 11:30 // "SDGs in the context of the Covid-19 disaster" – Dr Paloma CUCHÍ, World Health Organization Country Director for Poland (in person)
- 12:30 // Interactive workshop and introduction to Brian Head's Wicked Problems (2008) concept delivered by the United Nations Association Poland (in person)
- 15:30 // "Global means local! How international strategies and local administration relate to each other" – Dr Rafał TRZASKOWSKI, Mayor of Warsaw (in person)
- 16:30 // Interactive workshop on cities as the main enactors of the 17 SDGs delivered by the United Nations Association Poland (in person)
Sunday, 31 January 2021
- 10:30 // "Network governance for SGDs" – Prof. Joerg RAAB, Associate Professor at Tilburg University and Director of Global Management of Social Issues program (via Zoom)
- 11:30 // Interactive workshop on identifying why network governance in international relations and diplomacy is needed, by the United Nations Association Poland (in person)
- 15:30 // "Climate change at the heart of the SDGs" – Mr Kamil WYSZKOWSKI, President of the Board at UN Global Compact Network Poland (in person)
- 16:30 // Interactive workshop on how to effectively manage sustainable organisations in the context of climate action and the SDGs delivered by the United Nations Association Poland (in person)
Saturday, 6 February 2021
- 10:30 // Soft skills for building consensus and debriefing delivered by the United Nations Association Poland (in person)
- 14:00 // UN General Assembly Simulation Exercise delivered by the United Nations Association Poland (in person)
The event was organized following all COVID-19 regulations and sanitary measures enacted by the local laws, as well as the recommendations of the World Health Organization.