This paper discusses the escalating external debt distress and financial constraints faced by many least developed countries (LDCs) and other developing countries, particularly in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising interest rates, high food and energy prices and currency depreciation. It stresses the importance of a comprehensive financing strategy to address the large scale of investment needs of developing countries. The paper underscores the urgent need for short-term solutions such as multilateral financing and debt renegotiation to tackle the current debt crisis, while simultaneously establishing long-term solutions to prevent future debt crises. It calls for improvements in…
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This paper presents an assessment of the Voluntary National Review (VNR) experience from 2018-2022 as an instrument of peer learning in the implementation of the UN 2030 agenda. It highlights the key findings of the annual studies by the CDP of the VNR reports submitted to the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) from 2017 to 2021. The VNRs have been successful as a process that has fully engaged Member States. The substantive content of the reports and the review process could be strengthened by: providing more analytical rather than descriptive information; focusing on achievements, challenges, and lessons learned; reflecting on the challenges of the transformative ambition of the 2030…
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This paper is the fifth in a series of annual analyses of voluntary national reviews (VNRs) conducted by the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) and examines the VNR reports presented at the 2021 High Level Political Forum (HLPF). It consists of an introductory chapter with general conclusions and recommendations for consideration by governments and other stakeholders participating in future VNRs; and follows with a short series of authored thematic chapters. The document revisits issues addressed in the previous editions, such as the pledge to leave no one behind, inequalities, gender equality, COVID-19 and pandemic preparedness, and SDG 17, but also adds a new chapter on the…
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The fourth in a series of annual analyses of voluntary national reviews (VNRs) by the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), this paper analyses the 2020 reports. It consists of an introductory chapter with general conclusions and recommendations for consideration by governments and other stakeholders participating in future VNRs; and a short series of authored thematic chapters. The document revisits issues addressed in the previous editions, such as the pledge to leave no one behind, inequalities, gender inequality, COVID-19 and pandemic preparedness, and SDG 17, and includes new topics of analysis, such as how countries have treated the issue of structural transformation and sustainable…
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Voluntary national reviews (VNRs) are an important innovation as a United Nations process for follow up to the adoption of development agendas. This is the third annual review by the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) that provides a systematic content analysis of the VNRs presented to the HLPF. It includes a broader analysis than in the previous years, including a stock taking of lessons learned in the CDP analyses as well as related studies and makes recommendations for strengthening the VNR process. The paper also analyses the VNRs presented in 2019 with regard to how countries addressed the key principle of leaving no one behind and partnerships as well as the sustainable…
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Voluntary national reviews (VNRs) are an important innovation as a United Nations process for follow up to the adoption of development agendas. The paper analyses how countries addressed two key cross-cutting issues of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the VNRs submitted in 2018: leaving no one behind; and pursuing global partnership as means of implementation as well as how they addressed Sustainable Development Goal 4 on quality education. While the VNRs contain already many interesting examples as basis for mutual learning and sharing of, the paper also identifies a need for more attention to these issues and more explicit discussions on strategies for their implementation.…
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One of the most important elements of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs is the strong commitment to inclusive development, and leaving no one behind has emerged as a central theme of the agenda. How did this consensus come about? And what does this term mean and how is it being interpreted? This matters because the influence of SDGs on policy and action of governments and stakeholders in development operates through discourse. So the language used in formulating the UN Agenda is a terrain of active contestation.
This paper aims to explain the politics that led to this term as a core theme. It argues that LNOB was promoted to frame the SDG inequality agenda as inclusive development, focusing on…
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Voluntary national reviews (VNRs), are an important innovation as a United Nations process for follow up to the adoption of development agendas. The paper analyses how countries addressed three key cross-cutting issues of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the VNRs submitted in 2017: leaving no one behind; addressing trade-offs through policy integration; and pursuing global partnership as means of implementation. While the VNRs contain already many interesting examples as basis for mutual learning and sharing of, the paper also identifies a need for more attention to these issues and more explicit discussions on strategies for their implementation.
Infographics:
Leaving No One…
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We examine globalization's effects on those left behind in both industrial and emerging markets. While access to global markets has lifted billions out of poverty in emerging markets, the benefits have not been equally shared. Increased competition through globalization as well as skill-biased technical change has hurt less educated workers in rich and poor countries. While much of the rising inequality is often attributed to globalization alone, a brief review of the literature suggests that labor-saving technology has likely played an even more important role. The backlash has focused on the negative consequences of globalization in developed countries, and now threatens the global…
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This paper provides an overview of the conceptual and empirical issues involved in the overarching goal of "leaving no one behind" (LNOB). After reviewing some existing documents on the topic, it proposes ways to operationalize LNOB, discusses whether to take a country-focused or person-focused approach, examines various (multidimensional) ways to measure those who are left behind, argues for grounding LNOB on intrinsic and instrumental reasons, suggests ways to identify those at risk of being left behind, and discusses difficult trade-offs with other SDGs for an agenda focused on LNOB.
For more information on the CDP's work on "Leaving no one behind" go to: Leaving no one behind, poverty…
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