Coming Soon: People for 2030 Awards 2022
Once again, it is the time of year for our Country Offices to showcase the hard work they have done throughout 2022 in contributing towards UNDP’s People for 2030 goal to progressively transform the organization’s culture and capacity to deliver more and better results. First launched in 2020, the People for 2030 Awards allow us the opportunity to shine a light on the amazing People initiatives that were implemented by our County Offices throughout the year, and to provide winners with a lumpsum of $5,000 that can be used to invest in an activity or resource that will improve the working experience for personnel in their Offices. We are pleased to share that this year, 28 Country Offices have submitted themselves for consideration. As we head into our third award ceremony, we take the opportunity to share how four of our last years’ winning Country Offices invested their prize money.
Malawi
The years 2020 and 2021 saw countless stories of positive transformation within the Malawi Office’s programmes and operations units. The office achieved key milestones in digital transformation; greening and solarization initiatives; gender journey; staff wellness and duty of care during the pandemic, and the People for 2030 Award.
The news of winning the People for 2030 Award was one of the most memorable highlights that was naturally met with a lot of excitement and pats on the back, for all the work it took to accomplish this. With over 14 nationalities within the office, the office set aside an afternoon to celebrate the team effort that was showcased throughout the journey. With a ‘People for 2030’ themed cake as the highlight, the get-together was also an opportunity for a quick presentation of the People 2030 Strategy to remind staff on the priorities and to outline planned activities as part of its implementation.
The celebrations also took special acknowledgement of the cleaning personnel within the premises who have been key in helping keep the office environment clean and contribute to the overall well-being and productivity of the people. With over 100 staff working within the UNDP premises, including regular meetings with various partners on a daily basis, it was imperative to significantly improve some of the spaces within the office, including the conditions of the washrooms.
The other portion of the award was therefore allocated to the renovation of the men’s and ladies’ bathrooms, including the accessibility washroom, set up for people with mobility challenges. The work to improve the washrooms, which is currently underway, aims to create pleasing aesthetics with functional utilities.
The office is taking advantage of the renovations to create and display artwork on positive affirmations to help boost self-confidence and key information on sexual harassment, gender equality and procedures of reporting abuse, as one of the awareness tools in the prevention of sexual harassment and sexual exploration within the workspace and beyond.
We are aiming to finalize all the work before the end of year and start off the new year with washrooms that are not just functional and nicer, but also provide information that will help ensure the full protection of everyone within the office and outside. External partners visiting the premises will be able to see the important information on sexual harassment that they might not have been aware of, which is one way of deepening our commitment to preventing sexual harassment and promoting gender equality
-Deputy Resident Representative, Challa Getachew
For more information on this please reach out to People Champion Malawi, Challa Getachew.
Costa Rica
As part of the activities carried out with the awarded funds, UNDP Costa Rica held a Working Breakfast to Renew and Confirm the Staff’s Commitment to firmly combat sexual harassment and sexual exploitation and abuse in their communities. At this event, personnel signed a new Office Action Plan, with the gracious presence of Luis Felipe Lopez-Calva, former Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, as Honorary Witness.
In addition, training courses in Costa Rican sign language known as LESCO were initiated to promote inclusion in a practical way. The result of this process will strengthen inclusive communication while expanding staff capabilities to work more effectively with people with disabilities.
Additionally, the Men’s Group has been able to strengthen its actions on Positive Masculinities, which has resulted in exchanges with several UNDP offices worldwide, including Angola and Peru, as well as its participation in a Global Workshop organized by the BPPS Global Gender Team. And finally, a training programme is being developed on Gender, Violence Prevention, Disabilities, LGTBIQ+ and others for sensibilization and exchanging experiences. The objective is to promote the closing of gender inequalities for historically excluded groups of women, while strengthening the capacities of the Office and its personnel to ensure equality and non-discrimination for all people.
For more information on this please reach out to People Champion Costa Rica, Mildret Corrales.
Bhutan
The Bhutan Country Office combined the prize money with their learning budget. In addition to supporting individual learning, they supported four colleagues in the third cohort of the Purpose Lab around the theme of Youth for the year 2022. The participants (11 in total) are a mix of colleagues from all UN Agencies in the CO. This is already helping in bringing collaboration between the UN Agencies in the CO.
For more information on this please reach out to People Champion Bhutan, Tshering Choden.
Syria
The Syria County Office has utilized the award funds by procuring furniture used to create a workspace environment in the garden that is located on the premise. With staff association collaboration, this has helped colleagues go out to either have outside meetings, outdoor discussions, or simply work outside. In the future the office aims to further enhance these stations, and maybe use the spaces outside to showcase success stories from different areas of the Country Office.
For more information on this please reach out to People Champion Syria, Yahya Arnous.
The 2022 People Awards Ceremony, which will take place early December, will celebrate the great work that is being carried out at our Offices in delivering People for 2030.
