STAFF FROM UNITED NATIONS INFORMATION CENTRES TO ATTEND HEADQUARTERS TRAINING COURSE FROM 1-5 DECEMBER

28 November 1997

Press Release
PI/1044

STAFF FROM UNITED NATIONS INFORMATION CENTRES TO ATTEND HEADQUARTERS TRAINING COURSE FROM 1-5 DECEMBER

19971128 Information officers and administrative staff from 18 United Nations Information Centres (UNICs) around the world are to attend a five-day training course at Headquarters next week. The programme, organized by the Department of Public Information (DPI), is to familiarize participants with DPI activities at Headquarters and provide an orientation for newly appointed personnel at the Centres. Attending will be National Information Officers and Administrative Assistants from Buenos Aires, Cairo, Dakar, Lima, Lisbon, London, Moscow, Nairobi, Paris, Port of Spain, Prague, Pretoria, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Fé de Bogotà, Sydney, Tokyo, Tunis and Windhoek. A series of briefing sessions will allow them to sharpen their information outreach skills, to develop ideas on how to adapt United Nations messages to achieve greater relevance for local audiences, and to encourage the use of new communications technologies to increase efficiency and effectiveness in the field. Special emphasis will be placed on building partnerships with civil society, working with the media and developing public information campaigns for the 1998 commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the course of the week, the participants will also receive hands-on training in accessing United Nations information carried by electronic networks. Administrative Assistants attending will be briefed on current accounting and administrative procedures. Those taking part in the programme -- from 1 to 5 December -- are: Gustavo Poch, National Information Officer, Buenos Aires; Magda Khorshid, Administrative Assistant, Cairo; Alioune Loum, Reference Assistant, Dakar; Rosario Sheen, National Information Officer, Lima; Ana Tello, Administrative Assistant, Lisbon; Clare Kane, Administrative Assistant, London; Tatiana Palagina, Administrative Assistant, Moscow; Irene Mwakesi, National Information Officer, Nairobi; Alexandre Dabbou, Administrative Assistant, Paris; Elizabeth Solomon, National Information Officer, Port of Spain; Michal Broza, National Information Officer, Prague; Robert Raborifi, National Information Officer, Pretoria; Juliana I. Dias, National Information Officer, Rio de Janeiro; Claudia Perdomo, National Information Officer, Santa Fé de Bogotà; Angelique Doueihi, National Information Officer, Sydney; Satomi Yokozawa, Administrative Assistant, Tokyo; Amor Nekhili, National Information Officer, Tunis; and Birgitt Coetzee, National Information Officer, Windhoek. Mitsuru Hachimori, who has served 37 years as the Administrative Assistant at United Nations Information Centre in Tokyo, has been invited to assist DPI in training the participants.

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