Learning as an engine of UN transformation

I’ve always been struck by how effortless a symphony orchestra can sound. Yet, a symphony orchestra does not come together on the night of a performance. It comes together through shared training and repeated rehearsals. Musicians practice individually, but they only learn to perform as one by rehearsing together, by aligning tempo and adjusting continuously to produce a coherent result. 

The same is true for the United Nations System. If we are to deliver results for Member States, our people must learn together. Common challenges require common skills, shared understanding, and the ability to work across institutional boundaries. This does not happen by chance; it is built deliberately through joint learning and collaboration. 

This is the core mission of the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC). We are the rehearsal space for the UN workforce: the essential, behind-the-scenes partner using learning and collaboration to equip our people to perform in concert. Critically, a great orchestra does not work in isolation; it pools resources, blending distinct sections into a cohesive, more powerful whole. As the UN80 initiative pushes us to work more coherently and efficiently, learning together is not optional, it is a prerequisite for delivering together. By sharing strengths, we achieve greater efficiency, reduce dissonance, and dramatically increase our overall impact.  

A trusted learning partner for the UN system 

After more than two decades, UNSSC has become the UN’s trusted interagency learning partner. Our work is grounded in deep understanding of the system — its mandates, contexts and shared goals forged through continuous collaboration. A prime example is the Learning Managers Forum (LMF), which marks its 29th anniversary this year. This unique platform has convened thousands of learning and development professionals from across the UN family. Almost three decades of the LMF have given us an unparalleled evidence base: a profound understanding of our system’s evolving learning habits, shared challenges and key triggers for change. 

The LMF is but one example of how UNSSC brings the UN system together. In 2024 alone, personnel from over 150 UN entities took part in our learning programmes. From leadership and management to foresight and innovation, these experiences help colleagues translate global priorities into action on the ground. 

More than 97 per cent of participants recommend our programmes and report concrete gains they can apply immediately in their work. These results speak to our close collaboration with entities across the UN and to a shared commitment: ensuring that every colleague has the tools and confidence to deliver meaningful change. 

A catalyst for UN reform and transformation 

Our role goes beyond just delivering training activities. We work as a catalyst for transformation by helping organizations strengthen their capacity where it matters most, in service of the priorities and needs of Member States.  

For example, we were recently engaged by the leadership of a major UN agency to accelerate their work on innovation. Our work began not by presenting a course catalogue, but by listening to their teams, understanding the barriers they faced and identifying concrete opportunities for improvement. Based on this, we delivered advisory services to identify gaps, break down problems, simplify them and recommend systems and processes to continue this cycle and sustain innovation over time.  

Furthermore, our role as a recognized United Nations 2.0 partner in the UN 2.0 Action Plan complements this work — helping to foster the new capabilities — strategic foresight, data, digital, behavioural science and innovation. We equip UN personnel with the capabilities identified by the Secretary-General as essential to deliver the Pact for the Future. 

Smart, scalable and cost-efficient learning 

Effective reform depends on efficiency and access. Our Blue Line platform now reaches 60 per cent of the UN workforce, offering self-directed, personalized learning that scales across the system. 

Fourteen UN organizations have integrated the Blue Line as source for contextualized learning content — reducing duplication, achieving economies of scale, and ensuring that learning investments deliver maximum value for the system, and, ultimately, for Member States. In 2024, 63 per cent of UNSSC participants benefited from programmes offered free of charge, reflecting our commitment to accessibility and cost-efficiency. 

Learning that makes reform possible 

As the UN80 initiative drives system-wide reflection and reform, we are reminded that change does not happen through declarations alone. It happens when people learn together, act together and lead together. 

At UNSSC, we see that transformation every day — when a participant rethinks how they manage a team, when organizations align their work more coherently, when leaders model the behaviours that make reform stick. By investing in learning, the United Nations system is investing in the people who make the system work. That is how reform takes root — through learning, collaboration and the steady work of building a more capable, coherent and future-ready organization.