What happens when a country graduates? Must LDC graduates pay more to access development financing? What are the benefits of graduation? Is LDC graduation the same as becoming a middle-income country? Have any graduates slipped back? Find answers to these and more questions on the Gradjet portal under FAQ on graduation.

Speakers emphasized that the SDGs demand an integrated approach at all levels as no domestic policy can be detached from the regional and global environment in which it operates, and stressed that LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDs remain the most vulnerable to these interlinkages and global challenges, such as climate change.

On 16 July 2019, Professor José Antonio Ocampo, Chair of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), introduced the CDP’s 2019 report to ECOSOC to the Council’s High-Level Segment. Professor Ocampo stressed the CDP’s main messages on the theme of the Council (“Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”).

Vice-Chair of the CDP participated as resource person at the session of the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) entitled "Four years of VNRs: what have we learned on implementing the SDGs?"

Findings of the CDP analysis of the 2018 Voluntary National Reviews, identifying many interesting examples for mutual learning and sharing of good practices, but also a need for more attention to these issues and more explicit discussions on strategies for their implementation

On 10 July, DISD, EAPD and DPIDG of DESA, in collaboration with OHCHR, UNWomen and the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies, organized the VNR Lab “Leaving no one behind: Inclusive implementation and reporting”. The lab focused on how public/civil institutions can create mechanisms to ensure inclusive processes in the implementation of SDGs and VNR preparatory and reporting processes to ensure that no one is left behind.

On Friday 5 June, on the sidelines of the annual 2019 World Trade Organisation (WTO) Aid for Trade review, the UN Committee for Development Policy Secretariat and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) held a workshop with senior Vanuatu government officials to help with the preparation of a smooth transition strategy for progress toward and beyond LDC graduation.

Development often creates or exacerbates poverty and comes at the expense of environmental integrity, pushing people further behind.  It is particularly important, she stated, to  address the inequalities that create obstacles to the reform of the mechanisms through which people are pushed behind, such as decision-making systems where the most disadvantaged are often unrepresented.

The report analyses how countries addressed three key issues: leaving no one behind (LNOB); pursuing global partnership as means of implementation (SDG17); and quality education (SDG4). While the 2018 VNRs contain many interesting examples for mutual learning and sharing of good practices, the analysis also identifies a need for more attention to these issues and more explicit discussions on strategies for their implementation.

CDP Secretariat met with various stakeholders of Lao PDR to discuss the impacts of LDC graduation