Amplifying women’s leadership in the UN

Too often, women's leadership development begins with the assumption that the individual needs to change. 

Be more confident. 

Be more resilient. 

Be more visible.  

But what if the more important question is not how women adapt to the systems, but how they understand, navigate and influence them? 

In a UN system navigating evolving mandates, organizational transformation, and rapid technological change, the question above led us to another.  

What does leadership development for women need to look like within our current UN reality? That question sat at the heart of the creation of AMPLIFY: Women and Leadership. 

These questions could not be answered in isolation. They became part of a larger conversation about leadership and management capability across the UN system, ultimately leading to the development of UNSSC’s Roots to Results Leadership and Management Pathway. AMPLIFY emerged from that conversation as a dedicated journey for women leaders navigating an increasingly uncertain leadership landscape. 

 

Building AMPLIFY with intention 

AMPLIFY is the result of months of reflection, iteration, and dialogue.  

Throughout the design process, we revisited participant experiences, challenged our own assumptions, engaged partners across the UN system, and explored what leaders need to remain effective and humane amidst an era of transformation and disruption. 

Some themes emerged consistently. 

Leadership is rarely tested in theory - it is tested how leaders respond when priorities collide, resources tighten and answers become less obvious. 

It often shows up in how leaders respond under pressure, build trust, influence decisions, and create environments where others can do their best work. For women leaders, these moments are often accompanied by additional expectations and assumptions about authority, credibility and leadership itself. 

So, as we designed AMPLIFY, we wanted to move beyond leadership as a set of concepts and focus instead on leadership in practice.  

There was another lesson we carried forward with certainty: the importance of community. Across more than a decade of running UNSSC’s flagship programme Leadership, Women and the UN, women leaders consistently spoke about the value of sharing experiences with others who understood the unique opportunities and challenges they faced. The solidarity, perspective, and support that emerged from those connections often proved to be among the programme's most lasting outcomes. 

That spirit remains at the heart of AMPLIFY.  

Participants are also welcomed into the broader Leadership, Women and the UN alumnae community of more than 1,300 women leaders across the UN system, extending opportunities for learning, support and collaboration long after the programme concludes. 

 

From inward identity to outward influence 

AMPLIFY begins with the individual leader, but it does not stop there. The journey widens from self-awareness to the systems, cultures, and assumptions that shape leadership opportunities and outcomes. 

Participants explore how gender, culture and intersectional identity influence leadership experiences, while examining the organizational norms that affect who is heard, trusted and recognized. The journey also creates space to explore the implications of emerging technologies such as AI, including how they can reinforce gendered stereotypes and influence critical decision-making. 

The programme is grounded in leadership practice: how leaders build trust, navigate uncertainty, shape team culture, influence outcomes and respond effectively under pressure. These experiences are supported by focused development in communication, resilience, and real-time leadership, helping participants translate insight into action. 

Learning is reinforced through leadership assessments, individual coaching, peer learning, and a six-month follow-up process that supports sustained behavioural change.

 

Part of something bigger 

AMPLIFY was also designed to sit within something larger than itself. 

As part of the Roots to Results pathway, it complements IGNITE, ELEVATE, and INSPIRE, bringing a dedicated focus on women’s leadership while remaining connected to a shared leadership development architecture for the UN system. 

This positioning is intentional. AMPLIFY is not a standalone programme, but part of a broader effort to develop leadership capability systematically across career stages and organizational contexts. In doing so, it creates a dedicated space to explore leadership through the experiences of women leaders while remaining connected to the wider leadership challenges facing the UN system. 

 

Why this matters  

The value of AMPLIFY lies not in developing a different set of leadership capabilities for women, but in creating space for them to examine how leadership is experienced in practice – how opportunities, challenges, and career trajectories are shaped by intersectional identities and organisational realities.  

Yet these dynamics are often navigated individually rather than explored collectively. 

AMPLIFY creates an opportunity to bring those experiences into the open - to connect personal experiences to broader organisational patterns, learn from others and reflect on what it means for leadership practice. In a rapidly changing UN system, that space for shared sense-making is perhaps more important than ever. 

Viewed this way, AMPLIFY is both a continuation and an evolution. It honours the legacy of Leadership, Women and the UN by preserving what mattered most, connection, reflection and community, while responding to the realities facing the UN system today. 

 

What’s next? 

By holding this tailored space, AMPLIFY contributes to building a stronger and more representative leadership pipeline for the future of the UN system. 

What began as a design question has now become a living learning journey. Following a successful pilot earlier this year, AMPLIFY: Women and Leadership Edition 2 returns on 21 August, alongside a new in-person offering AMPLIFY: Women's Leadership Accelerator in Geneva on 21–22 October. We look forward to welcoming more women leaders as the conversation continues from reflection into practice.