The annual United Nations High Level Mediation Course, co-organized with the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, aims to contribute to more effective mediation by deepening the knowledge and enhancing the skills of the next generation of senior mediators by familiarizing them with key issues and challenges affecting contemporary mediation processes. The focus of the Course is on mediation processes taking place in fragile and often violent political contexts, with an emphasis on negotiations that include the top leadership of conflict parties. The Course also provides an environment for exchange of critical reflections between participants from within and outside the UN system. 

The DPPA Gender Peace and Security Unit co-organizes the annual United Nations High-Level Seminar on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Strategies with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Finland and Norway, and implementing partners the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). Held since 2013, the Seminar seeks to enhance the gender and inclusive mediation capacity of senior mediation actors from the UN, regional organizations, Member States and international non-governmental organizations, and to generate more consultative processes by promoting women’s full, equal and meaningful participation, and building inclusive, gender-sensitive mediation capacity at international, regional and national levels. Since the beginning of the seminar series, more than 300 senior mediation actors have participated.

The DPPA Mediation Support Unit co-organizes the annual United Nations Ceasefire Mediation Course in partnership with the Norwegian Defense International Centre, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

The training is attended by mid- and senior-level officials of the United Nations as well as representatives of government and non-state parties to conflict, including those currently working in an environment where a ceasefire arrangement is either being mediated or already in place, or who are directly involved in developing, supporting or managing the ceasefire arrangement. To date, some 119 UN Staff, 165 delegates from conflict parties and 12 officials from Regional Organizations have been trained. 

Recognising that further targeted efforts are required to overcome obstacles to women’s participation in ceasefires, in 2021 DPPA launched an online Women in Ceasefires Negotiations Course, which is exclusively open to women from conflict settings. Conducted annually, the course aims to increase the number of women with the technical skills to participate in ceasefire and security arrangements negotiations and implementation. To date the Course has trained over 80 women, with several graduates now contributing to gender-responsive ceasefire designs in their home countries.