UN/DESA conducted a training workshop in La Paz, Bolivia from 17-20 May to support the elaboration of policy notes through the use of an economy-wide model. A total of 12 government experts, mostly from UDAPE, the Analysis Unit of the Ministry of Development Planning, attended the workshop. The policy notes will report the results of assessing the socio-economic impacts of investments of the National Development Plan (PDES), planned electricity exports, and declining oil prices.

Prof. Nora Lustig, Samuel Z. Stone Professor of Latin American Economics and Director of the Commitment to Equity Institute (CEQI) at Tulane University, conducted a Development Policy Seminar on Taxes, Transfers, Inequality and Poverty in the Developing World today in New York. Her presentation focused on the redistributive impact of fiscal policy in some twenty developing countries. According to Lustig, while fiscal policy practically always reduces inequality, this is not the case with poverty.

Newly-published Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development provides a variety of insights about the behavioral and policy changes that would need to accompany the technical transformation needed for sustainable development. The book underlines the challenge of improving and adapting existent technology to the specific local needs of countries. It discusses the experience of countries and the policy options confronted by Governments to expedite the adoption of green technology and to facilitate rapid diffusion and knowledge sharing.

In response to a request from the Office of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, DPAD staffmembers Marco V. Sánchez and Eduardo Zepeda conducted a scoping mission in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on 27-28 April 2016. They met with a number of Government officials and experts to describe UN/DESA’s approach in strengthening national capacities to use modelling tools for sustainable development policies.

On 12 April, Marco V. Sanchez-Cantillo, Senior Economic Affairs Officer in DPAD, participated as presenter in the webinar series "Beyond SDG Indicators", organized by the Integrated Assessment Society (TIAS) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development. His presentation focused on explaining how DPAD is strengthening national capacities to use modelling tools for sustainable development policies.

Rethinking development cooperation for the SDGs: country-level perspectives and lessons

On April 1, DPAD in coordination with UDAPE, the Economic and Social Policy Analysis Unit of the Ministry of Planning and Development in Bolivia, organized the conference “Economy, energy and development” as a forum to communicate results of two years of capacity development projects that have benefitted the country, namely in the strengthening of capacities to build and use modelling tools to inform sustainable development strategies.

On 16 March 2016 the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) organized a panel discussion on expanding productive capacity for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals as a side event to the 18th CDP Plenary session. CDP members Prof. Diane Elson, Prof. Stephan Klasen, and Prof. Keith Nurse presented CDP perspectives on expanding productive capacity to achieve the SDGs. The discussion was moderated by the CDP Chair, Prof. José Antonio Ocampo.

In the Symposium on the Promotion of an Inclusive and Accountable Public Administration for Sustainable Development held in Cochabamba, Bolivia from 16-17 March, Ms. Mirna Mariscal, Deputy Director of Unidad de Análisis de Políticas Sociales y Económicas (UDAPE), made a presentation on the impact of capacity development shaping policies in Bolivia.

On 15 March from 1:15 pm to 2:15 pm EST, join Committee for Development Policy members Prof. José Antonio Alonso (Complutense University, Spain), Prof. José Antonio Ocampo (Columbia University, New York) and Prof. Keun Lee (Seoul National University, Republic of Korea) on a live Facebook chat on global governance and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.