UNCTAD technical cooperation in support of SDGs

31/05/201910/11/2023 sonia

UNCTAD gears its technical cooperation towards contributing to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and continues its assistance to developing countries by adapting to the new opportunities and challenges in the fields of trade and development and interrelated issues -—
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—-. The UNCTAD Toolbox -—
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—- has been developed to better align technical cooperation with the SDGsSustainable Development Goal. Total technical cooperation expenditure of UNCTAD surpassed US$53 million in 2022, delivered through 225 projects in 73 countries -—
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—-. UNCTAD’s technical cooperation projects are delivered at the interregional, regional and country levels (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Most project expenditures in 2022 were interregional, followed closely by projects in Asia and Oceania, and Africa

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Note: Values in this figure may differ from UNCTAD Annual report -—
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—- as this is based on preliminary figures, while the values represented here utilize final finance figures.

Project expenditure by SDGSustainable Development Goal has not experienced a major shift in the last several years, as it has after 2018, when relative expenditures on SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) more than halved, offset by significant increases after 2018 in expenditures to support SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) and SDG 17 (partnership for the goals). This trend continued in 2022 (Figure 2). SDG 17, 9, 15 (life on land), and 8 (decent work and economic growth) dominate project expenditures. The amount of expenditures not directed to a specific SDG (marked as ‘multiple’ in figure 2) has slowly diminished in 2018-2022; also, continuing the 2021 occurrence for the first time of project expenditure (albeit very small) directed to support SDG 2 (zero hunger), 2022 values remain small (0.1 per cent) yet reflecting an increase by 0.04 percentage points from 2021.

Figure 2. SDGs 15 and 17 remain stable at the top of project expenditures

(Percentage of total expenditure)

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UNCTAD is in action on various floors

With nearly 700 people in UNCTAD team, UNCTAD delivers high-quality technical support to many areas benefiting countries and national stakeholders, as well as the international community, building partnerships to jointly address the challenges of today. To that end, UNCTAD uses it convening power to bring together governments, businesses, civil society, academia and other international organizations to advance sustainable development and inclusive trade and economy for all.

UNCTAD contributes to enhancing member States’ capacities to reach the 2030 Agenda in several areas, including:

The Convening Power of UNCTAD

UNCTAD uses its convening power to bring together governments, businesses, civil society, academia and other international organizations to advance sustainable development and inclusive trade and economy for all. Since 2016, over 75 000 participants attended nearly 700 official and registered meetings; share of female participants has been 38 per cent. Learn more…

UNCTAD Empretec – inspiring entrepreneurship

UNCTAD EmpretecEmpretec is a Spanish acronym which blends “emprendedores” (entrepreneurs) and “tecnología” (technology). The term was introduced in Argentina in 1988. promotes entrepreneurship and enhances the productive capacityUNCTAD defines productive capacities as consisting of the productive resources, entrepreneurial capabilities and production linkages that together determine a country’s ability to produce goods and services that will help it grow and develop -—
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—- and international competitiveness of SMEsSmall- and medium-sized enterprise in developing countries.

The training is delivered through a global network of 42 national business development centres. Since its inception in 1988, Empretec has trained more than 500 000 people, helping them to found or expand businesses and create jobs in the process. Learn more…

TrainForTrade

TrainForTrade provides technical assistance to developing countries focusing on three areas: (1) port management; (2) international e-commerceE-commerce is defined as the sale or purchase of goods or services, conducted over computer networks by methods specifically designed for the purpose of receiving or placing of orders. The goods or services are ordered by those methods, but the payment and the ultimate delivery of the goods or services do not have to be conducted online -—
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—-.; and (3) international trade statistics. The aim of the programme is to empower countries to participate in, and reap the benefits of, international trade in an equitable and sustainable manner. The programme has enhanced capacities of nearly 15 000 participants from 218 different countries from 2018 to 2022. 43 per cent of all participants were female. Learn more…

Framework to measure South-South Cooperation

For the first time a tool, the voluntary Framework to Measure South-South CooperationBroad framework of collaboration among countries of the Global South in the political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and technical domains. It includes trade, FDI, regional integration efforts, technology transfers, sharing of solutions and experts, and other forms. Involving two or more developing countries, it can take place on a bilateral, regional, intraregional or interregional basis -—
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—-., exists that can be applied to quantify mutual support flows among Southern countries. As a custodian agency, UNCTAD provides support to enhance countries’ capacity to collect data and measure SSCBroad framework of collaboration among countries of the Global South in the political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and technical domains. It includes trade, FDI, regional integration efforts, technology transfers, sharing of solutions and experts, and other forms. Involving two or more developing countries, it can take place on a bilateral, regional, intraregional or interregional basis -—
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—-.. UNCTAD survey shows that most of the countries involved in SSC, 64 per cent of respondents, engage as both providers and recipients of support in the context of SSC. The statistical capacity (85 per cent of the responses) and collaboration between agencies (75 per cent) were identified as the key areas for improvement to enable data collection on development support and SCC. Learn more…

Debt management and debt data transparency: DMFAS Programme

The UNCTAD DMFASDebt Management and Financial Analysis System Programme programme advises developing economies in debt management and helps them to record and report reliable debt statistics for policymaking. The programme offers countries a set of practical solutions for the management of public liabilities and the production of debt statistics, supported by the DMFAS debt management and financial analysis software, capacity development and advisory services.

DMFAS has trained nearly 7 000 experts, nearly half women in debt management. Learn more…

Measuring illicit financial flows

UNCTAD supports member States to strengthen their statistical capacity to define, measure and disseminate statistics on IFFsIllicit financial flow as a custodian of SDG indicator 16.4.1 on IFFs with UNODCUnited Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Between 2017 and 2023, UNCTAD and UNODC held 21 expert meetings; moreover, between 2021 and June 2023, UNCTAD and its regional partners, ECAUnited Nations Economic Commission for Africa and ESCAPUnited Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, held 39 national workshops in Africa and Asia to enhance national capacity to measure IFFs in twelve pioneering countries in Africa and two in Asia. In total, 1 919 participants were trained, of whom 29 per cent women. Learn more…

UNCTAD takes an active role in promoting ICT as a tool for development

UNCTAD’s “eTrade for all” has established a global partnership of 35 organizations working together to support an enabling environment for sustainable development through e-commerceE-commerce is defined as the sale or purchase of goods or services, conducted over computer networks by methods specifically designed for the purpose of receiving or placing of orders. The goods or services are ordered by those methods, but the payment and the ultimate delivery of the goods or services do not have to be conducted online -—
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—-.. Within eTrade Readiness Assessments in LDCsLeast developed country and other developing countries, UNCTAD found that 41 countries have successfully implemented UNCTAD eT Readies, E-Commerce Strategies, or Action Plans. Learn more…

UNCTAD Programme on Fostering Productive Capacities and Structural Economic Transformation: completed

UNCTAD has developed a comprehensive programme on fostering productive capacitiesUNCTAD defines productive capacities as consisting of the productive resources, entrepreneurial capabilities and production linkages that together determine a country’s ability to produce goods and services that will help it grow and develop -—
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—- and structural economic transformation in support of developing countries. The project is structured around four main activities, co-led by UNCTAD and relevant ministries in the country: (1) Strengthen countries’ statistical capacity; (2) Develop National Productive Capacities Gap Assessments; (3) Formulate Holistic Productive Capacities Development Programmes; and (4) Train policymakers, national technical experts and other stakeholders. Learn more…

Promoting sustainable production of biodiversity based products

UNCTAD’s BioTrade Initiative with its Principles and Criteri reconciles the need for economic development with poverty alleviation and the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversityBiodiversity refers to the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems -—
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—-., through trade in biodiversity-based products and services.

A regional BioTrade project in Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Viet Nam generated new or additional income for 22 860 people, of which 63 per cent women, offered new jobs or improved working conditions to 23 450 people and supported 48 companies to export biotrade products. Learn more…

★ UNCTAD in Action ★

The convening power of UNCTAD

SDG targets 17.16 “Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries, in particular developing countries” and 17.17 “Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships” call for inclusiveness and collaboration among all stakeholders. -—
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—- supports the “collaboration with agencies within and outside the United Nations system” using its convening power to bring together governments, businesses, civil society, academia, and other international organizations.

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.Helen Keller, American author

Meetings include ministerial and other high-level meetings, intergovernmental meetings, such as the Trade and Development Board and its subsidiary bodies, the Working Party on strategic framework and programme budget, and fora, such as the Global Commodities Forum, Illicit Trade Forum, and e-Commerce Week. They also include study visits, seminars, short courses for diplomats and bilateral government visits. Since 2016 and up until 2022, UNCTAD held 698 events with 75 212 participants (Table 1).

Table 1. Numbers of organized events and participants at UNCTAD headquarters recovering after the

Year	Number of events	Number of total participants
2016	38	8 717
2017	107	7 173
2018	136	16 689
2019	165	9 398
2020	72	5 820
2021	68	14 540
2022	112	12 986
Total	698	75 323

Source: UNCTAD calculations based on data from UNOGUnited Nations Office in Geneva IndicoIntegrated Digital Conferencing (Indico) is an open-source web-based tool for event management system developed and maintained at -—
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—-. In this publication, Indico.UN refers to the event registration system of the United Nations based on CERN Indico and managed by the United Nations Office at Geneva -—
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Note: These statistics only cover meetings and events organised by UNCTAD at its headquarters in Geneva and registered in the ‘Indico’ conference management system. Many other meetings organised by UNCTAD at the regional or national level, and outside Geneva, are not counted.

On average, women’s participation in meetings from 2016 to 2022 has been at 38 per cent. Representatives from national governments are the single largest group attending UNCTAD meetings, accounting for 44 per cent of all registered participants. The private sector, academia, and non-governmental organizations together account for 34 per cent. Regional representation shows Africa and Western Europe making up about 30 per cent of participants, followed by Asia and the Pacific at 19 per cent. Latin America and the Caribbean form 11 per cent of all registered participants, and Eastern Europe 7 per cent. Regional representation is not specified for all participants, for instance for people representing international organizations.

Only a handful of activities are selected here to showcase hard numbers speaking for UNCTAD’s work in support of member States in the pursuit of the 2030 Agenda. Inspiring entrepreneurship as one of the key driving forces of development, UNCTAD Empretec promotes entrepreneurship and enhances the productive capacity and international competitiveness of SMEs in developing countries.

★ UNCTAD in Action ★

UNCTAD Empretec promotes entrepreneurship

To be inclusive, economic transformation and diversification must incorporate microenterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises, businesses owned or managed by women and youth, start-ups, and both formal and informal enterprises. All these enterprises play a significant role as they employ people in developing countries. Supporting MSMEs’ development and fostering an entrepreneurial mindset for more vibrant and diversified economies can contribute to the full achievement of SDGs 4, 5, 8 and to the principle of leaving no one behind.

Empretec is an integrated capacity-building programme for MSMEsMicro, small, and medium-sized enterprises to build their entrepreneurial skills, promote their scaling up and expand their networks. Its core product, the Entrepreneurship Training Workshop, promotes behavioural changes that help entrepreneurs put their ideas into action and fledgling businesses to grow. Training is delivered by more than 500 local, certified trainers and by a pool of 40 international, master trainers. All trainers are themselves entrepreneurs.

Empretec plays a major role in equipping entrepreneurs with required skills and knowledge with its unique methodology to establish a sustainable business. It’s considered one of the major programs to support scaling up of current businesses towards innovation, digitalization and increasing competitiveness which leads to employment generations and investment opportunities.Mr. Nayef Z. Stetieh, former Minister of Labour, Jordan, and Director of the Empretec programme in Jordan

For instance, Empretec held workshops in six African countries, namely Benin, Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, between 2020 and 2022. After those, a study was conducted among 200 entrepreneurs, and it showed that the training had a positive impact on their businesses.

The training is delivered through a global network of 42 national business development centres. Since its inception in 1988, Empretec has trained more than 500 000 people (Figure 1), helping them to found or expand businesses and create jobs in the process.

Figure 3. Number of entrepreneurs trained by Empretec rising, though plateauing

(cumulative number, thousands of persons)

Source: UNCTAD Empretec.

References

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