And it’s not just all about the political pull some of the Member States may exert. It’s also about how NGOs go about their work, what they know—and more importantly, what they don’t know and the natural strain that large numbers of NGOs have been putting on the limited resources of the United Nations.

This is all the more reason that in the midst of growing interest of NGOs to engage at the United Nations, the ever-evolving international space means that the NGOs who are going to stand out will need the right tools and core knowledge.

I’ve also helped many regular NGO representatives who don’t have specific global policies they want to impact but do want to better use their organization’s access to the United Nations and the resources it does offer to increase their levels of impact back in their own countries.

Especially if you don’t have years of experience and may even be brand new and hungry to learn—I can show you how to be effective in your particular arena. If you’ve been around the block before and tried your hand at figuring out how to really impact global policy without much luck, I’m confident with a little clarity and a clear strategy, you’ll be able to finally achieve the level of impact and influence you’ve been hoping for.

And if you already have some work underway, perhaps even have a team of volunteers or interns you would like to help make more effective and you feel like you could be getting so much more accomplished, I can help you too! Here’s why…

So how is this going to help you become an effective NGO diplomat? I like to think that I’ve made the 4972 mistakes at the UN so you don’t have to. And so you can end up figuring out quickly, which ones WILL matter and which ones you can turn to your advantage!

After my first, um, less-than-successful foray, I turned myself into a student of success. I found mentors from whom I learned different aspects of what makes for success. I talked to colleagues and their contacts, sat with Ambassadors and other diplomats listening for what they said… and what they DIDN’T say. I wiped out what I thought I knew about outreach and advocacy and started again, this time with a solid foundation under me.

After working with a team of people on a very challenging topic for the UN and initiating what became a series of UN General Assembly resolutions, I new I’d figured out a number of essential secrets. You see, no one wants to tell you this, there is right way to set out to make changes in global policy, and there is a wrong way. My organization tried the wrong way once and then I had to spend years (literally) mopping up the mess and I’ll never go back again. I’ve spent the last few years showing other NGO activists how to avoid the mistakes I’ve made and I can’t wait to start working with you.

1. Cover the essentials that an international NGO representative to the UN would need to know to be effective
2. Uncover the hidden human undercurrents of many UN interactions that are usually overlooked (and not factored into their outreach strategies) by activists passionate about their programs
3. Integrate the main elements of mindset and process so that the flow of information, homework and suggested activities would help any person covering the materials end up “naturally” having a strategic approach if they completed the course.

At the time, I was just thinking about the information I wanted to “get down.” Then I realized I wanted to make this available to as many NGO representatives as possible, not only the ones I had originally served.

So I spent weeks putting it all together—and had to teach myself how to record, script, organize, code, upload, convert, and more of the tech side, to actually make it available (and not just on my computer) to everyone. So now it is available to activists wherever they may be, and especially those who may have to travel huge distances to get to NY or Vienna or Geneva in the first place.

By doing this course before they ever get to NY, they can multiply the investment of their journey to New York so that every moment they spend, they are not wasting it (hopefully) learning on the fly, but they will land prepared and ten times more prepared than they every would be. I know how precious money and time is to NGOs and seeing people unnecessarily, if unintentionally waste them is painful.