UN Women Africa Regional Office conducts its first training for senior drivers
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The area of Diplomatic Etiquette and Protocol can at times be difficult to understand without specialized background professional knowledge and experience. As part of their day to day work, senior drivers of UN Women are required to display high levels of professionalism which requires an in-depth understanding of the various layers of Protocol and Etiquette.
It is for this reason that the UN Women regional office for East and Southern Africa convened the first capacity building training for senior drivers from fourteen countries through a week-long protocol training in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The event was officially opened by the Regional Director Izeduwa Derex-Briggs. In her welcoming remarks, she noted that this kind of knowledge building exercise was critical to all drivers in various ranks of duty. She assured the participants that it was the first training among many to come and urged them to use this opportunity to engage the facilitators and resource persons, as well as participate in peer to peer learning.
The Regional Director acknowledged the hard work that drivers put in and the multiple roles that each of them undertake in their duty stations. She urged them to be active champions and agents of change for the achievement of gender equality and women’s rights by being active champions against inequalities faced by women and girls on the continent.
‘The training has equipped me with skills in defensive driving, first aid, communication and email etiquette, all which are important in my everyday work. I am eager to go back to work and apply what I have learned’, said Assad, a participant from Somalia. ‘The key lesson I have learned from this training is that etiquette and courtesy lead to better work ethic and professionalism’.
Other topics covered in the training included First Aid, Human Resources, Communication and Diplomatic, and Etiquette skills. This training was pegged on UN values of continued learning and application of technology in everyday work. Building capacity for staff members is at the core of UN Women’s efforts to equip its staff to effectively carry out their tasks. It is hoped that the training will be replicated throughout the organization and other UN agencies.
The training served as a good practice of how agencies can use its in-house human resources to impact knowledge and skills to other colleagues within the organization.
The Protocol and Etiquette training was organized by UN Women Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office staff.