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Writ ing wel l for UNHCR is demanding. UNHCR's pr ior it ies are people focused and

i ts work is a lmost always immediate and urgent. Wr it ing tasks usual ly, and r ight ly,

come second to the more press ing human problems the organizat ion is address ing

dai ly. Yet wr it ing is an ex tremely important means of communicat ion at UNHCR.

Without i t , t here would be no d isseminat ion of what is happening in the f ie ld; no

data on which to base ca l ls for funding; no accurate record ing of act ion taken;

and no means to persuade do nors to support i t s work.

The range of wri t ing tasks is vast and varied:

Emergency, week ly and month ly s ituat ion reports

Minutes of meet ings and notes for the f i le

Analyt ica l and technical reports

Repor ts to donors

Br ief ing notes for the High Commiss ioner and other execut ives

Miss ion reports

Guidel ines on procedures

Letters to governments

Period ic report ing requirements such as count ry reports, count ry operat ion

p lans, and protect ion repor ts

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These tasks are just a few of those requi red. Much of th is wr it ing must be

t ranslated, of ten into severa l languages, and re layed to the publ ic and to donor

governments.

UNHCR wr it ing needs to be s imple yet comprehens ive; persuas ive yet accurate;

in format ive yet br ief – a very ta l l order. Some wr it ing must be forma l enough to

meet the requi rements of the dip lomat ic nicet ies required when communicat ing

wi th governments; other wr it ing must be dives ted of internal UNHCR jargon to

make it understandable to a reader outside the organizat ion. The need for

mastery, or at least good contro l, of the wr it ing process is essent ia l for most s taf f

members in the i r da i ly work.

Th is course a ims to ass ist you, in your job at UNHCR, to handle these wr it ing

tasks as ef fec t ively as poss ib le. I t seeks to he lp you in establishing strateg ies

and ski l ls that are genera l enough to f i t a wide range of wr it ing tasks. Ul t imate ly i t

a ims to ass ist busy readers by making thei r reading tasks eas ier through internal

wr it ing that is c lear, wel l organized and as br ief as pract icable.

MODULE SECTIONS

This module has seven sec t ions.

Sect ion 1 How communicat ion works

Sect ion 2 Wr it ing for your reader

Sect ion 3 Adopt ing a wr it ing st rategy

Sect ion 4 Us ing e lec tronic tools

Sect ion 5 Discr iminatory wr it ing

Sect ion 6 Wordiness and undue length

Sect ion 7 Achieving clar i ty and coherence

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MODULE OBJECTIVES

By the end of th is module, you wil l be able to :

s tate a c lear ob ject ive for each work -re la ted document you wr ite ;

ident if y your readers ' needs and write appropr iate ly to meet those needs ;

ident if y and avoid barr iers to ef fect ive wr it ten communicat ion ;

choose the appropr iate wr it ten sty le for your readers ;

use e lectron ic wr it ing and edit ing too ls ef fect ive ly .

The Global Learn ing Centre (GLC) wishes to express its acknowledgements to the

Commonwealth of Learn ing Course Development Team, the developer of the

or ig ina l mater ia l on which th is module is based.