UN Cares Training Session held in Trinidad and Tobago

In Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago, on 16 November 2018, over 45 staff members from UNHCR, ECLAC, and PAHO/WHO, attended the Core Module of the UN Cares for all training. This was the last session of a series of training that have been conducted throughout the year in the country.

In fact, the United Nations has developed a global awareness-raising campaign called ‘UN for ALL’ that offers a half-day workshop to UN Staff around the world to discuss topics that impact them, such as unconscious bias, discrimination and stigma against colleagues with disabilities, LGBTI persons, those with a mental health conditions and those with substance dependence, among others. This global campaign is being implemented in Trinidad and Tobago. All UN Cares focal points from different UN organisations have been mandated to conduct this workshop in order to discuss these global thematic areas with a particular focus on the specificities faced by colleagues in the subregion.

The collected evaluation forms from the session in November indicated that all UN Staff who attended the workshop really appreciated the space for dialogues created by the training and the exchange of experiences. This peer to peer learning process allowed all participants to learn more about some of their unconscious biases and helped them to think differently about inclusiveness in the workplace. Participants remarked that they valued the session on “inclusive language”, and many committed to make personal actions to be more inclusive and use the appropriate UN terminology.

The session ended with strong commitments by all participants to make the UN family in Trinidad and Tobago an even more effective and inclusive place in order to strengthen UN principles of dignity and respect for all.

Many thanks to all the participants for attending and for enriching the discussions with their experiences and perspectives. Our heartfelt thanks go to the facilitators Lydia Rosa Gény (ECLAC) and Jeniffer Sankar-Sooknarine (ECLAC) for their strong commitment and efforts to use this training as a form of promoting the UN work in Trinidad and Tobago environment as an exemplary place of inclusiveness and respect for diversity, as well as to Hidenobu Tokuda (ECLAC), Wayde Ramnarine (UNIC), Aria Geiser (UNDP) and Narissa Seegulam (RC Office) who provided great support during the session, in particular during the group discussions. Finally, this session would not have been possible without the leadership of Leila Nassif, Chief of Mission of UNHCR in Trinidad and Tobago, who ensured that 100% of her staff successfully completed the training. For those who missed this session, other training session will be offered in 2019.