Foreword

In 2015, the United Nations launched the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and corresponding SDGs. To support this programme a Global Indicator Framework was adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission in March 2017 and subsequently by the UN General Assembly in July 2017. That framework comprises 232 statistical indicators designed to measure the 17 goals and their respective 169 targets.

This first edition of the SDG Pulse illustrates in a very concrete way how UNCTAD is contributing to the 2030 Agenda. The report not only presents statistical updates for the indicators for which UNCTAD is a custodian or co-custodian, but it also presents a range of other complementary indicators that provide a wider context and more nuance to these complex topics.

This report also presents some case studies from UNCTAD’s capacity development programme from a statistical perspective – presenting our activities and successes in hard numbers. These case studies are important as they illustrate the Results Based Management approach being adopted by UNCTAD – helping us to improve our responsiveness and accountability to member states.

Finally, this report will every year, highlight a thematic issue of immediate relevance. This year’s theme addresses the many faces of inequality. In particular, to discuss how developments with regard to access to data and information may be creating new dimensions of inequality.

Steve MacFeely
Head of Statistics and Information
UNCTAD

References

• United Nations (2017). Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017 on the Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A/RES/71/313. New York.
• United Nations Statistical Commission (2017). Report on the forty-eighth session of the Statistical Commission (7-10 March 2017). E/2017/24-E/CN.3/2017/35. New York.