Pretoria: On 16 August 2019 Third year Information Science students from the University of Limpopo visited the United Nations Information Center (UNIC) Library in Pretoria to learn about the role of the United Nations in South Africa.

The visit commenced with a warm welcome and the students were given an introduction of the UN structure, UN Library, the various agencies in the UN and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The students were informed of the reference services, UN publications and other UN materials the students could access through the Information Center.

An interactive discussion ensued, which raised questions from the students about the role of the UN in the country and how it has been able to achieve its mandate. The UN staff spoke about the SDG Report and the progress of the initiatives taken by the UN thus far. Students were informed on how the UN promotes greater awareness and understanding of its work through its outreach programmes and public campaigns.

The UN team encouraged the students to stand up, take action and make use of technology effectively to explore their full potential and start their own businesses or organizations. In so doing, they could employ people and make an impact in the economy while assisting in reducing unemployment and achieving SDG 8. Furthermore, the library staff informed students about the inclusive process of all member states, the adoption of the 17 SDGs, the 2030 Mandate and UN capacity in terms of helping the SADC countries achieve these goals. The session ended with the UNIC team encouraging students to share knowledge gained about the United Nations. Students were accorded an opportunity to explore the UN library and UN material prepared by the UNIC team was distributed among students

Source: UNIC Pretoria South Africa