Pro Learn Network

Initiatives that outgrew a single session.

Some questions need more than one exchange. These initiatives were built by practitioners across the network and remain available as models that other organizations can run again.

Every organization defines collaboration, communication or leadership in its own words. As a result, capability proven in one agency is invisible in the next, even when the competency is the same.

The idea

Peer organizations align their understanding of key competencies. They train them, assess how they are applied in practice, and issue digital credentials that are stackable, potentially towards a formal qualification, and portable to other participating organizations through digital wallets that the person controls.

None of this needs new technology. It needs agreement between organizations and some time from people who understand both competency frameworks and credentials.

How it has been taken forward

The idea came out of a community session in December 2021 (recording on YouTube). From 2023, a Programme Committee of HR professionals from UN entities, international organizations and non-profits has worked on a framework for mutual recognition and on shared practice in the field.

Take part

Organizations that want to join can write to the network. Useful starting contributions are a competency framework to compare, an assessment practice to share, or a group of staff for a pilot.

Express interest

In a period of organizational change and financial uncertainty across the United Nations, many staff faced unexpected career shifts. Career Pivot Ally paired them with professionals from other sectors for short, focused conversations.

The Career Pivot Ally

A professional who volunteers one hour per week for up to two 30-minute informational conversations, sharing their career path, the entry points into their sector, and the certifications, skills and experience valued there. No coaching qualification is needed.

The Career Explorer

A UN professional in transition who contacts an Ally with a short introduction and the questions they want to cover. The aim is exploration, not job seeking: learning how others moved, and identifying transferable strengths.

Clear boundaries made it work

The format is deliberately light-touch and time-bound. An Ally is not expected to act as:

  • a mentor with an ongoing commitment or follow-up meetings
  • a career coach offering structured coaching sessions
  • a hiring manager offering interviews, referrals or jobs
  • a buddy for repeated coffee chats
  • a source of well-being counselling beyond a single conversation

A short conversation can have a long-lasting impact. It is a learning exchange, not a job interview.

Visible availability, no central matching

Allies and Explorers signalled their participation with a profile picture frame and the hashtag #CareerPivotAlly, so people could find each other directly. Allies were encouraged to state their focus on staff of the UN and international organizations to keep requests manageable.

Run it again

The model suits any organization going through restructuring, relocation or downsizing. We can help set up a new edition with your HR team, staff association or learning centre, including role guidance, outreach texts and profile frames.

Discuss a new edition

With thanks

To the Allies and organizers of the 2025 edition: Tom Frohner, Sara Canna, Alison Osborne, Jesús Guerrero, Katarina Posa, Sara Cortes, Virginie Ferré, Frédéric Ballenegger, Renata Bernarde and Rolf Reinhardt.

Related: Career Tips Thursday, a monthly career development webinar series run by UN learning teams and hosted by the UNOG Centre for Learning and Multilingualism.

Have a question that deserves a working group?

Initiatives start when practitioners in more than one organization want to solve the same problem. Tell us what yours is.

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