In December 2022, pursuant to the General Assembly resolution A/RES/77/71, Member States decided to establish:

a standing dedicated fellowship training programme on small arms and light weapons in order to strengthen the technical and practical knowledge and expertise of government officials directly responsible for the implementation of the Programme of Action and the International Tracing Instrument, particularly in developing countries.

The Fellowship Training Programme will consist of a self-paced online course and a four-week in-person training with the objective of deepening trainees’ understanding of the conceptional and practical framework of small arms control. The United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects and the International Tracing Instrument (PoA/ITI), the MOSAIC, and the UNODA gender-mainstreaming small arms control manual (and its Annex) will form the foundation of the training courses, together with relevant provisions of other global instruments and tools for the regulation, limitation and control of small arms and light weapons.

The fellowship will serve a total of sixty (60) government officials per year who are directly responsible for the implementation of the PoA/ITI, nominated by states and selected through a competitive evaluation process. States would be called upon to nominate one (1) participant per country, and a total of fifteen (15) fellows will participate from each of the following four (4) target regions: Asia and the Pacific; Africa; Latin America and the Caribbean; and Europe and other States.

The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs will provide the overall coordination, management, political oversight and substantive direction of the Fellowship Training Programme both for the self-paced online course and the in-person practical training.

The in-person training will be run over a four-week period through an independent specialized training institution of excellence in each of the four regions.

The Fellowship Training Programme will run annually, starting from 2025.

The organizational aspects and curriculum for the Fellowship Training Programme are currently under development and all the latest updates will be posted on this webpage.