The United Nations Studies Program Working Group is a student led organization, working under the guidance and umbrella of the United Nations Studies Program at Columbia’s University School of International and Public Affairs.

It aims to connect students and the SIPA community to issues on the United Nations (UN) agenda by building a better understanding of the functioning of the organization based on its pillars of International Security, Human Rights, Humanitarian Affairs, Development, Environmental Change and other relevant areas of the work handled by the UN System.

“To live is to choose. But to choose well,
you must know who you are and what you stand for,
where you want to go and why you want to get there.”

(Kofi Annan, Ghanaian diplomat, seventh secretary-general
of the United Nations, 2001 Nobel Peace Prize).

Task forces are student groups created under the UNSPWG umbrella and allow students to further develop specific interests. Current SIPA students are encouraged to create task forces with the support of UNSPWG. Current task forces include:

• UN Education Task Force
• UN Women and Gender Task Force