The announcement was made in a Note to Correspondents, released by the UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson’s office on Saturday, which emphasized that the Initiative allows for the “facilitation of the safe navigation for the exports of grain and related foodstuffs and fertilizers, including ammonia, from designated Ukrainian seaports.”
Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces in February 2022, the Initiative has been one of the few areas in which the Russian and Ukrainian governments have been able to reach agreement. It came about in response to the sharp increase in prices for food and fertilizers around the world: Russia and Ukraine are the main suppliers of these products to world markets, and their ability to export was significantly curtailed once hostilities began.
Since the signing of the Initiative in July 2022, some 25 million metric tons of grains and foodstuffs have been moved to 45 countries, and the initiative has been credited with helping to calm global food prices, which reached vertiginous highs in March 2022. Following the implementation of the Initiative, prices began to fall and, a year later, had dropped some 18 per cent.
The deal was mediated by the UN and the Government of Türkiye, which was thanked in the statement for its diplomatic and operational support: as part of the agreement, a Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) was established in Istanbul, to monitor the implementation of the Initiative.
The Note to Correspondents reaffirmed the UN’s strong commitment to both agreements, and described the Black Sea Grain Initiative, alongside the Memorandum of Understanding on promoting Russian food products and fertilizers to the world markets, as “critical for global food security, especially for developing countries.”
“We are at the beginning of a technological revolution based on green technologies,” UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan said. “This new wave of technological change will have a formidable impact on the global economy.”
The 17 frontier technologies covered in UNCTAD’s Technology and Innovation Report 2023 have the potential to create market revenues of more than $9.5 trillion by 2030, about three times the size of India’s economy today.
Coherent action
Used to produce goods and services with smaller carbon footprints, the new wave of green technologies spans artificial intelligence to electric vehicles.
The report calls for coherent policy action to enable developing countries to profit from green tech or risk facing growing economic inequalities, as developed countries reap most of the benefits.
“Developing countries must capture more of the value being created in this technological revolution to grow their economies,” Ms. Grynspan said. “Missing this technological wave because of insufficient policy attention or lack of targeted investment in building capacities would have long-lasting negative implications.”
Early adopters advance faster
While green tech exports from developing nations rose to $75 billion from $57 billion between 2018 and 2021, their share of the global market fell to 33 per cent from 48 per cent. During the same period, green exports from developed countries jumped to $156 billion from $60 billion.
UNCTAD’s analysis shows that developing countries must act quickly and move to a development trajectory leading to more diversified, productive, and competitive economies. Previous technological revolutions have shown that early adopters can move ahead quicker and create lasting advantages.
Wanted: agency and urgency
Proactive industrial, innovation, and energy policies targeting green technologies are needed in developing countries so they can benefit from the green tech revolution, said Shamika N. Sirimanne, director of UNCTAD’s technology and logistics division.
“Developing countries need agency and urgency in coming up with the right policy responses,” she said. “As developing countries respond to today’s urgent interconnected crises, they also need to take strategic, long-term action to build innovation and technological capacities to spur sustainable economic growth and increase their resilience to future crises.”
UNCTAD calls on governments in developing countries to align environmental, science, technology, innovation, and industrial policies, and urges them to prioritize investment in greener and more complex sectors and provide incentives to shift consumer demand towards greener goods.
The report also calls for an international programme to guarantee purchases of tradable green items, coordinated green technology research at the multinational level, increased support for regional centres of excellence for green technologies and innovation, and a multilateral fund to stimulate green innovations and enhance cooperation between countries.
‘Least ready’ countries
The report’s “frontier technology readiness index” shows that very few developing countries have the capacities needed to profit from such green tech as blockchain, drones, gene editing, nanotechnology, and solar power.
Ranking 166 countries based on ICT, skills, research and development, industrial capacity, and finance indicators, the index is dominated by such high-income economies as the Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden and the United States. It also shows that countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa are the least ready to harness frontier technologies and are at risk of missing current technological opportunities.
“In a number of countries, key sectors are facing labour shortages, because people are increasingly reluctant to engage in work which is not properly, adequately, fairly valued by society and rewarded in terms of better pay and improved working conditions,” said Manuela Tomei, Assistant Director-General for Governance, Rights and Dialogue at the International Labour Organization (ILO).
According to a new report from ILO drawing on data from 90 countries, key workers remain severely “undervalued” and their contributions insufficiently recognized.
Underpaid, underprotected
The study focuses on essential workers in sectors such as health, retail, food systems, security, sanitation and transport. ILO’s findings show that during the COVID-19 crisis these key workers suffered higher mortality rates than non-key workers, because of greater exposure to the virus.
They also continue to be over-represented among low pay workers, defined as those who earn less than two-thirds of the median wage.
Investing in the future
Speaking in Geneva on Wednesday, Richard Samans, Director of ILO’s research department, insisted that investing in better pay and working conditions for key workers was a matter of fairness and future-proofing in the event of another global emergency.
“This is an opportunity for obtaining a two-for-one payoff: both improving the working conditions, reducing the social justice deficits faced by many of these categories of workers, but also for strengthening the resilience of economies, their ability to withstand shocks of whatever nature, whether it be a future pandemic, a natural disaster, or other.”
Key recommendations in the report include strengthening regulation in essential areas such as wages and workplace safety, as well as targeting investments in the health and food sectors and in support of small businesses.
A street vendor sells eggs in Diego-Suarez in Madagascar.
Risk of labour shortages
ILO’s report shows a gap in earnings between key and non-key workers of 26 per cent on average. Working conditions in essential jobs are also characterized by long and unpredictable hours, limited training opportunities and poor social protection coverage, including lesser access to paid sick leave.
Nearly one-in-three key workers worldwide is on a temporary contract, with a negative impact on job security and entitlements.
ILO underscores that when poor working conditions of key workers exacerbate employee turnover and labour shortages, the provision of basic services is in jeopardy. This is true both in higher and lower-income countries.
Learning lessons from COVID
Faced with the need to boost investment in order to guarantee decent work and strengthen business continuity “in good times or bad”, the UN agency urged governments, employers and workers’ organizations to work together to ensure the delivery of key goods and services. “Like an insurance policy, such a strategy would more than pay for itself when the next crisis hits,” ILO said.
There are currently 46 so-called Least Developed Countries (LDCs), a United Nations designation.
They have been participating in an international conference in Doha, Qatar, focused on how best to support their development and future graduation from the LDC group.
Subhash Nepali (left) and colleagues mark the release of the Least Developed Country Report (2019) for Nepal.
“In the 1970s, when Nepal was first included in the UN list of Least Developed Countries (LDCs), my parents worked as porters carrying food and other items 68 kilometres from the country’s only highway to their district of Arghakhanchi.
Back then, people lived on an average annual per capita income of $70 and more than 60 per cent of the population lived in hunger and abject poverty.
Up until the 1990s, my parents could not feed us a full meal a day; and I still vividly remember queueing up at the Sarkari Khaddya Godam – the government food warehouse- to buy subsidized food.
Chasing development aspirations
Fifty years later, the situation in the country is very different. In 2021, Nepal qualified to graduate from the category of “Least Developed Country” having, for the third time, met the threshold levels on two out of three indicators: the Human Asset Index and the Economic Vulnerability Index, which assess the country’s health, education, and economy’s exposure to natural shocks such as drought, natural disaster, and instability in agricultural production.
Nepal’s achievements go well beyond meeting these official thresholds. In 2020, poverty declined to 17 per cent, and in 2022, the level of hunger (assessed by the Global Hunger Index) was reduced from severe to moderate. Improvements to roads and infrastructure mean that rural parts of the country are now better connected.
On issues of gender equality and health, Nepal has also made significant strides, successfully achieving gender parity in school enrolment target in 2019 and significantly reducing under-five mortality to 28 deaths per 1000.
ADB/Samir Jung Thapa
A young girl hard at study in Nepal.
Economic, security and climate challenges
Reaching these milestones has not been easy, especially for a country which endured a decade long armed conflict from 1996-2006 and experienced a challenging peace-building process in the aftermath. In 2015, Nepal also suffered from the tragic 7.8 magnitude earthquake that claimed over 9,000 lives and lowered GDP growth by over 1.5 percentage points from an estimate of 4.6 per cent that year.
Not long after I joined the UN in Nepal in 2010 as a development analyst, the Fourth UN Conference on LDCs was held in Istanbul, marking an important step in Nepal’s long path towards LDC graduation.
With the goal of implementing the ‘Istanbul Programme of Action’, Nepal set out its own 12th national plan to prioritize LDC graduation. Three years later, under the 15th plan, 2024 was set out as the hard deadline for Nepal’s graduation, which was delayed to 2026 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the economist at the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO) in Nepal, a key part of my role is to support the Government and other development partners prepare for this critical transition. What impact will it have on communities across the country? How can we work together to mitigate any risks? These are some of the questions which have guided my work in the RCO over the past three years.
In the short term, the graduation is likely to keep Nepal’s economy stable. In the longer term however, there are many challenges including supply side constraints of goods, inadequate structural transformation, and the loss of flexibility in promoting Micro, Small and Medium enterprises, (MSMEs) for which we are already supporting the national authorities.
Harnessing potential of Nepal’s ‘infant’ enterprises
Together with my colleagues from the Resident Coordinator’s Office we have provided technical support to the Government of Nepal as they formulate the Smooth Transition Strategy (STS). This strategy focuses on accelerating economic transformation by bringing in foreign direct investment, expanding revenue base, accessing development finance, particularly climate finance, and catalyzing private investment.
Engaging with neighbouring LDCs and drawing on UN development system expertise from the country, regional, and global level, has been a key part of the smooth transition process.
Preparing Nepal for this transition requires a broad spectrum of UN support; which is why the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2023-2027) has adopted LDC graduation and inclusive economic transformation as one of the central, cross-cutting pillars to guide the activities of the entire UN system in the country.
All these efforts will help create jobs and enhance the ability of local governments to deliver services and promote Nepal’s many Micro, Small and Medium sized enterprises, which make up almost 99 per cent of enterprises in the country. If connected to regional value chains, these MSMEs, or ‘infant industries’, many of which are women led, have huge potential to propel progress on the SDGs and Nepal’s own development goals.
Beyond Doha
The UN Resident Coordinator in Nepal, Hanaa Singer, along with other government officials, and development partners attended the 5th UN Conference on LDCs in Doha to present the country’s success in crossing the LDC graduation threshold.
As we approach the finish line and prepare to transition away from the status of one of the world’s Least Developed Countries, we must embrace the added responsibility of ensuring irreversible and sustainable graduation, and work together to ensure that no parent ever struggles to feed their family or send their children to school the way my parents, and many others from my generation once did.
This is a proud moment for Nepal, and a proud moment for me personally. Our graduation sends a positive message to the world that Nepal is ready for its next chapter.”
There are currently 46 LDCs listed by the UN and countries graduate once they have reached certain development targets.
Eric Jan Overvest, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Sao Tome and Principe at the LDC5 conference in Doha, Qatar.
Eric Overvest: São Tomé and Príncipe is doing well in terms of social indicators, such as GDP per capita, but is lagging in others, such as the Economic Vulnerability Index, and that’s where the UN provides a lot of support because it’s the health of the economy that will allow the country to graduate from its LDC status.
For example, we’ve helping the country to market itself as a place that sells organic, high-end products. So, instead of just exporting cocoa beans, they’re exporting chocolate bars. Organic palm oil, coconut oil, and vanilla pepper are also being sold.
Finding the resources to adapt to the climate crisis is also very important, and we’ve been supporting the government’s efforts to find more funding for the protection of biodiversity, and preserve marine resources. This country is moving towards the use of renewable energies; the UN supported the country’s first solar park, which opened last year, and solar panels are going up on schools and health centres.
We’re also helping to develop the private sector; promoting a form of ecotourism that’s integrated into the culture and history of the country, and supporting small and medium sized enterprises.
UN News: What challenges could hold Sao Tome back even after graduation, and how does the UN plan to deal with that?
Eric Overvest: I would say it’s a mentality shift, from the idea of being dependent on foreign aid, towards a model where you are generating the resources for your own economy, making sure you have the sources of growth to sustain your social protection system, to sustain the social sectors, and to make sure that your country can accelerate towards the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
WFP/Jorcilina Correia
In São Tomé and Príncipe, WFP supports some families displaced by climate change
It’s about assuming your development challenges and looking ahead and seeing what we can do as a country to move ahead. So, it puts a lot of pressure on the country to make sure they are ready for graduation.
Linked to that is the migration challenge. Many are still looking for opportunities abroad, but the human resources needed to support the development process are needed in the country.
A particular challenge for São Tomé and Príncipe, and other Small Island Developing States, is the vulnerability of the islands to the climate crisis, because we have seen floods, hurricane and storms, which can have a very disruptive impact on the economy. In December 2021, around seven per cent of GDP was lost to damage caused by heavy rainfall.
A mother helps her son with his homework at home in São Tomé and Príncipe.
UN News: What advice would you give to the leaders of Least Developed Countries to help them achieve economic development and poverty reduction?
Eric Overvest: Invest more heavily in the economy and the sectors of growth where you have the competitive advantages, where you can add value, and where you can create more jobs.
You need to analyse your weaknesses and strength, and that develop a national development plan. And that requires commitment at the highest level, political commitment to invest in those economic sectors where you really see the future growth of the country.
I’ve seen it here in São Tomé and Príncipe. There is a real shift towards more private sector involvement, and towards agriculture that is not just based on exporting raw materials. LDCs need to find their niche and develop it for future growth.
Eric Overvest is the UN Resident Coordinator in São Tomé and Príncipe. He was talking to UN News at LDC5, a major UN conference, held in Doha, Qatar from 5-9 March 2023.
Pierre Vauthier is the chief of office for the FAO in Ukraine. He told UN News how the FAO team in the country – around 100 staff members, mostly Ukrainian specialists in agriculture-related areas – was dispersed throughout the country, in often difficult working conditions.
“One of the difficulties we faced, once the war began, was that many of our own colleagues were forced to leave their homes and move to safer areas. Despite this challenge, we managed to respond rapidly to the needs of those affected.
From April, we began distributing seeds, mainly to people who had been forced to leave their homes, and had taken refuge in villages where they felt more secure, and had more chance of finding accommodation.
People on the frontlines or occupied zones suffered extreme hardships.
Agricultural businesses, particularly the larger ones, were seriously affected at all levels, but they turned out to be extremely resilient, and demonstrated an ability to reorganize and resume operations.
On the other hand, small-scale farmers, small businesses, and rural families were very vulnerable; they produce food for the rest of the country and are in need of humanitarian aid.
More than 30,000 houeholds received seeds and cash transfers from FAO and this has helped to reinforce the local economy and build resiliency.
FAO’s goal is to remove half a million households, or one million people in rural areas, from humanitarian assistance by the end of 2023 and to enable them to become self-sufficient and thus contribute to reviving the rural economy.
FAO/Dmytro Koreniev
Pierre Vauthier, Head of FAO Country Office in Ukraine, at the distribution of agricultural equipment in Chernihivska in November 2022.
Avoiding the collapse of agricultural production
In 2022, Ukrainian ports, which exported more than 80-90% of the country’s grain to countries in Africa and Asia, were blocked.
To prevent the total collapse of agricultural production, FAO, in coordination with the government and partners was able to purchase and provide nearly 6 million tonnes of grain storage capacity. This meant that farmers, many of whom had lost infrastructure due to the war, could store their production and avoid losses.
This ultimately saved the 2022 harvest and stabilized the global situation.
UN agencies have helped secure power generators so food production can continue in Ukraine.
2023 priorities
The fall in agricultural production of between 30% and 40% due to the war will have a significant impact on the national economy and on food security, so it’s crucial that farming is supported.
FAO set up a special programme to support farmers in frontline areas by providing seeds so they can maintain their production.
We have also distributed generators, with the support of Germany, so food producers and other elements of the food chain have the power to carry on. So, for example, we have given generators to large bakeries in Kyiv and Kherson so they can bake bread.
FAO is also working on reducing fossil fuel consumption in the agricultural sector and exploring options such as solar energy and bio-fuels.
And crucially, FAO is working with the World Food Programme (WFP) to identify and prioritize land in need of demining and rehabilitation to ensure the safety of farmers and to allow agricultural production to take place in a safe and efficient manner as soon as possible.
There is an estimated one million hectares of land affected by mines and unexploded ordnance left in the fields.
I am impressed by the solidarity of farmers in Ukraine, who are motivated to restart their production, resume their normal lives and provide agricultural products for their communities, despite being affected by circumstances outside their control.
In that sense their preoccupations around harvests, their livestock, maintaining production and selling to markets are very much similar to the concerns of other farmers I have met around the world in places like Mali, Ethiopia, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.
Work continues despite challenges
The ongoing war is complicating humanitarian operations, particularly in areas where military activity is intense.
Almost every day, we have to resort to our bunkers for protection, but we continue to work.
Security remains a major concern, especially for our staff, who often live on the outskirts of the cities where we are based. But we remain vigilant about exposing ourselves to unnecessary risk.”
The Doha Political Declaration was adopted to a round of applause in the plenary hall of the Qatar National Convention Centre, where LDC5 has been under way since 5 March.
Ushering in new era of solidarity, and enormous socio-economic benefits for world’s 46 least developed countries, today’s action comes nearly one year after the DPoA was adopted at the first part of the Conference on 17 March 2022 in New York.
The Declaration outlines measures to promote transformation and unlock the potential of LDCs, including the development of a system of reserves or alternative means, ranging from cash transfers to comprehensive multi-hazard crisis mitigation and resilience-building measures for the least developed countries.
“The commitments and responsibilities do not stop and start with the signing of the documents or attending Conferences. They must be integral to our efforts towards 2030 and extend for the full decade,” said Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations at the closing plenary meeting.
‘We must go further still’
She pointed out that the five key deliverables from the DPoA – an online university, a graduation support package, a food stock holding solution, an investment support centre, and a crisis mitigation and resilience building mechanism – “will answer key challenges facing the LDCs, and set the path for a more prosperous, equitable future”.
“But success is not automatic. We must go further still,” stressed Ms. Mohammed. “To achieve these deliverables, LDCs will need massive financing – at scale, and directed where it matters most.”
She noted that Secretary-General António Guterres had earlier proposed reforms to the international financial architecture, alongside an SDG Stimulus of at least $500 billion a year, to direct resources towards long-term sustainable development and just transitions. This funding could help LDCs tackle issues that are preventing them from realizing their potential.
“If we are to have any hope of achieving the SDGs, we must put first those who are furthest behind on their development journeys,” stated the UN deputy chief.
While in Doha, Ms. Mohammed also, engaged with Government officials, civil society representatives and UN Resident Coordinators from around the world. In her meetings, she underscored the importance of crisis mitigation and increasing resilience for LDCs, with the DPoA as the blueprint to uplift the most vulnerable countries.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider
The week at LDC5
Under the theme ‘From Potential to Prosperity’, the LDC5 Conference aimed to drive transformational change to positively affect the 1.2 billion people who live in the LDCs.
LDC5 welcomed some 9,000 participants, including 46 Heads of State and Government and nearly 200 ministers and vice-ministers, who called for urgent support from developed countries to advance socio-economic and environmental development in LDCs.
Business leaders, together with civil society, youth and other partners, shared initiatives, and recommendations in a range of areas, from enhancing LDCs’ participation in international trade and regional integration to harnessing the power of science, technology, and innovation.
The Deputy Secretary-General acknowledged this broad-based participation, saying: “Throughout this week we have seen what can be achieved through genuine partnership and multilateral dialogue. Each track — youth, South-South Cooperation, private sector, Parliamentarians, and civil society — has contributed energy, vision and ideas for lasting change.”
Discussions at LDC5 centred on the implementation of the DPoA. The agreements reached this week will help LDCs address current crises, from the COVID-19 pandemic to climate change, and help them get back on track with the SDGs and make progress towards graduation from the LDC category.
“The LDCs have the most untapped potential in the world, from natural to human resources.” said Rabab Fatima, Secretary-General of the Conference and UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS).
“What we delivered this week can harness this potential and chart a prosperous future for people in LDCs.”
She urged those present, upon leaving Doha, to consider “what we can contribute to implementing to Doha Programme of Action in our own context and capacities”.
Emphasizing that political commitment is the “fuel that will drive the engine of progress”, she welcomed expressions of national ownership of the DPoA and urged development partners to tailor their national cooperation policies in a manner that meets the expectations and aspirations of least developed countries.
Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, President of Malawi and Chair of the Group of Least Developed Countries, described the Conference as “a triumph of style and of substance”. The stakes could not have been higher when the Conference began, he said, recalling the many calls for stronger partnerships made over the past five days.
Developed countries were reminded of their official development assistance (ODA) commitments, he said, stressing that it is time to fulfil that historic commitment to allocate between 0.15 per cent and 0.20 per cent of their gross national income. If this, and other promises in the areas of trade, investment and technology transfer can be honoured, then we will leave with fresh hope that the Doha Programme of Action will be implemented in full, he added.
Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Qatar, also delivered closing remarks as President of the Conference. Noting the commitments pledged during the last five days, he stressed the need for practical measures and recalled his own country’s significant financial pledges. Qatar would place least developed countries at the heart of international cooperation, he said.
UNDP/Yuichi Ishida
Commitments made at LDC5:
Qatar announced a financial package of $60 million: $10m to support the implementation of the DPoA and $50 million to help build resilience in the LDCs.
Germany dedicated €200 million in new money in 2023 for financing for LDCs.
Canada announced $59 million to deliver Vitamin supplements in 15 LDCs and ecosystem conservation in Burkina Faso.
The EU Commission announced cooperation agreements advancing sustainable investments in Africa totaling more than €130 million.
Finland announced an annual event called the United Nations LDC Future Forum in Helsinki, with the Office of the UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, OHRLLS – to ensure the latest thinking and research is being put to work to ensure progress on the most vulnerable states.
The Green Climate Fund announced a new project to give $80 million in equity to offer green guarantees to business in LDCs and bring down the cost of capital..
The UN World Tourism Organization, announced a new €10 million Tourism for Development Fund for LDCs, supported by TUI Care Foundation, that will invest by 2030 to support sustainable tourism in LDCs as a key driver of development.
The Government of Kazakhstan pledged $50,000 to continue their work supporting the most vulnerable member states of the United Nations.
Notwithstanding progress in increasing enrolment rates for primary education, 16.2 per cent of children of primary school age were out of school in least developed countries (LDCs) in 2019 and almost half of children out of school worldwide are in those same countries, with girls, children with disabilities and other children in vulnerable situations disproportionately represented.
Enrolment and completion rates for tertiary education remain low, which has far-reaching implications for the structural transformation agenda of the least developed countries. Most of them depend on aid for their education budgets. At the secondary and tertiary levels, gender disparities and disparities for the poorest and most vulnerable exist.
“Clearly, the education systems in the LDCs require significant development to equip their young people with the skills they need for the future,” said Ms. Fatima, who is also the UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) at an LDC5 high-level side event on the proposed online university for LDCs.
UN News/Pengfei Mi
Pandemic widens education gaps
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a major fault line in the education system, particularly in the LDCs. UNESCO‘s Global Survey of Higher Education, published in July 2021, found that the pandemic had affected 220 million tertiary students worldwide. In LDCs, almost all universities were forced to close completely.
While academic institutions in developed countries were able to move quickly to online education, LDCs were unable to make the switch due to a lack of the necessary logistics, technological tools, and skills.
In a world where technological progress is occurring at lightning speed, countries risk being left behind if they do not invest in the digital skills of tomorrow’s creators.
The best way to meet the growing demand for higher education at scale in an efficient, cost-effective, and resilient way is to rapidly build online education infrastructure in LDCs. A new UNESCO global survey on the impact of COVID-19 on higher education reveals that strong national efforts, supported by the international community, are urgently needed to develop online universities in LDCs.
“That is why the Doha Programme of Action (DPoA) has a concrete target in this area, to undertake feasibility studies for establishing an online university,” said Ms. Fatima, she said, referring to the Conference’s agreed outcome, which aims at removing structural obstacles to comprehensive growth and sustainable development.
A new online university
She explained that the main objectives of the proposed online university were to:
Provide policy support to promote distance education and open learning for graduate and postgraduate studies in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Ensure special access for the poorest and those in vulnerable situations.
Create a virtual network of educational institutions within and beyond the least developed countries.
Support course design and curriculum development.
Bring scale and sustainability to the education system, consider all existing initiatives developed by relevant partners.
And facilitate global recognition and accreditation to international standards.
As requested by the DPoA, the UN Secretary-General will submit a report outlining the mapping of existing initiatives, possible new modalities, resource requirements, accreditation, and sustainable sources of funding.
This will be submitted to the UN General Assembly for consideration at its 78th session in September.
“I therefore echo the Secretary-General’s call, as he urged development partners to reverse budget cuts, and to dedicate at least 15 per cent of official development assistance to education,” said Ms. Fatima.
She added: “International financial institutions should also be looking to make more resources and fiscal space available for LDCs to invest in support of quality education for all.”
“This initiative, along with the other education goals and ambitions of the Doha Programme can equip millions of young girls and boys to become agents of transformative change, though newfound innovation and entrepreneurial skills.”
During the side event, Member States, international organizations, civil society groups, the private sector and youth representatives discussed the political and financial support needed to establish an online event.
A summary of the discussions was circulated and will contribute to the Secretary-General’s study on possible options for an online university.
UN News/Pengfei Mi
Education programmes to stimulate innovation
This week at LDC5, the Qatar National Conference Centre has also hosted a number of civil society and academic representatives, including Professor Shijian Luo from China, who spoke to UN News.
Luo is the Dean of the International School of Design, Ningbo Innovation Centre, Zhejiang University (ZJU-ISD). The International Design Education (IDE) programme initiated at his school is dedicated to providing industrial design education to students from LDCs in order to enhance the capacity and competitiveness of LDCs in industrial design.
“Each year, the programme offers up to 50 full scholarships to eligible students from LDCs. These scholarships, supported by the university and the government, enable the students to study industrial design and cultivate their problem-solving skills,” Mr. Luo said at an exhibition showcasing the students’ industrial design productions.
He said that 68 students from 19 LDCs have been accepted into the 2.5-year programme in 2021 and 2022. “The programme also serves as an incubator to support students’ innovation and entrepreneurship by providing business support, research and services that help turn ideas in the classroom into start-ups in the market,” he added.
The professor explained that the long-term goal of the programme is to build the capacity of the world’s 46 LDCs in science, technology, and innovation (STI), which will contribute to the achievement of the SDGs.
“Our students are interested in bringing some of China’s experience in designing poverty alleviation or rural revitalization to their countries,””Mr. Luo said.
The IDE programme is jointly organised by the United Nations Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries (UNTB), the World Eco-Design Conference (WEDC) and ZJU-ISD since 2021.
The UNTB was established in 2016 as a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly to help LDCs strengthen their STI capacities. It currently serves 46 LDCs and former LDCs for up to five years after their graduation from the category.
Today, the world counts 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24: the largest such generation in history. Close to 90 per cent of those in this age range live in developing countries, where they make up a large proportion of the population.
However, from the ever-increasing effects of climate change to the ongoing global health and socio-economic fallout of COVID-19 pandemic and the consequences of the measures to counteract it, young people worldwide are suffering the repercussions of issues caused by previous generations. In all this, the present and future of young people in LDCs – already highly vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks, and low levels of human assets – are at stake.
Against this backdrop, the Fifth Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) is working to ensure young people are at the heart of the plans to realize the Doha Programme of Action (DPoA) – which aims at removing structural obstacles to comprehensive growth and sustainable development – by addressing their needs and empowering them in furthering progress.
UNDP/Lao PDR
‘No generation left behind’
“If young people are not meaningfully included in our work, the goals we set in the DPoA, and the 2030 Agenda, will remain unfulfilled,” warned Rabab Fatima, the UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) during an Intergenerational Dialogue at LDC5.
The dialogue brought together young people from the LDCs, with world leaders, Heads of state and Government, decision-makers, senior UN officials and senior diplomats.
“We must listen to the voices of young people and include them in the decision-making process, and in follow-up actions, as they are the ones who will be most affected by the outcomes,” explained Ms. Fatima, who is also the Secretary-General of the LDC5 Conference.
She stressed: “It was always our ambition for this Conference to bring together every part of society – every decision maker, the private sector, youth, civil society organizations and every other stakeholder – to ensure that no voice was unheard, no idea untested, no generation left behind.”
During the interactive discussion, young people shared their actions, ideas and good practices and identified challenges in the implementation of the Doha action plan, while UN Member States and other stakeholders shared their commitments to involve young people in its implementation at the national, regional, and global levels.
UN Photo/Sajeesh Babu
Youths speak out
Although young people from many LDCs were unable to travel to Doha due to funding or travel restrictions among other reasons, some of their representatives came to LDC5 to advocate on behalf of their cohort.
UN News spoke to a cross-section of the inspiring young people who made the journey to LDC5.
“We have come from very far away, where young people were called at the end [when decisions are finalized]. But now what we want, and hope is to be involved from the beginning, when plans are being made, when policies are made, to be involved and to be present when decisions are made,” said Humphrey Mrema, and youth delegate from Tanzania, told UN News.
For her part, Shaimaa Barakat from Yemen said: “I am here to represent Yemeni youth and to shed light on the struggles affecting [us]. Some of the most prominent issues facing war-torn Yemen include the vast number of opportunities lost by Yemeni youth and the lack of Yemeni youth involvement in peace-building discussions. Today, through this conference. I want to be a voice of Yemeni youth and a voice of our aspirations to play a role in peace building in Yemen.”
The next impassioned young person to speak with us was Sangay Loday, youth delegate from Bhutan, who said working in the youth sector, he had at times felt that there was and still is a gap between the youth and the government.
“But now I feel that there is a lot of intersectionality between the youth, the government, the conversations, and the communication that is happening. So, in a way we are working together rather than separately. We do not see each other as enemies, we see each other as advisors and partners. And that allows us to work together rather than apart,” he explained.
Next up was Irina Sthapit, from Nepal, who said: “I am here today in LDC5 as a youth participant representing women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Women in STEM is very important. There are needs to be diversity and less biased awards for women to go into STEM fields, and we need to have our place at the table to make decisions around science and technology.”
Spotlighting what the UN Secretary-General has called “the defining issue of our time”, Dircia Sarmento, of Timor-Leste, said that while climate change is indeed a burning global issue, in Timor-Leste it was not a topic young people usually discussed.
“So, we are doing a lot of workshops and conferences to share information, to raise awareness, and during the conferences I have seen a lot of young people. They are really interested in climate action, and they really want to do something for the country. But they cannot do that because of the lack of support in terms of their funding. But that’s why I’m here today at the LDC5 Conference.”
Raising another critical issue was Florence Pouya, of Afghanistan, who told UN News that: “Women in our country are denied their basic right, which is education. But we try to inspire them and show them that they shouldn’t give up and that they should try to be brave and strong.”
IOM/Peter Caton
Promoting economic inclusion of youth
A session was also held on promoting youth economic inclusion and entrepreneurial skills where the discussion touched on ways to motivate and empower youth people.
Dejene Tezera, Director of Agricultural Economics at the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) addressed the importance of taking into account the views of young people in any development process.
“This is not an option but rather a necessity,” she said, explaining that more than half of the world’s population today is under the age of 30, and the vast majority of them live in developing countries, so clearly, their voices, experiences and ideas should inform development processes, particularly regarding education, skills training and employment.
She stated that there is a need to create about 600 million jobs in the next decade to meet the needs of young people, and more efforts should be undertaken to provide them with appropriate skills, enable them to learn and find decent work or become entrepreneurs, through inclusive and sustainable industrial development and the creation of opportunities for better future.
The jobs gap for women is a “stubborn and damaging reality of the global labour market” but it is particularly worrying in developing countries, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said, with almost one in four women unable to find a job, compared with 16.6 per cent of men.
‘Bleaker picture’
That assessment is based on new data gathered from all people looking for work, as opposed to those registered as unemployed.
“It paints a much bleaker picture of the situation of women in the world of work…(it) shows that women still have a much harder time finding a job than men,” ILO said.
According to the UN agency, 15 per cent of working-age women globally would like to work but do not have a job, compared with 10.5 per cent of men, whereas unemployment levels are very similar for both sexes, “because the criteria used to define unemployment tend to disproportionately exclude women”.
Held back
Personal and family responsibilities, including unpaid care work are among the reasons why women are disproportionately affected in the search for work.
“These activities can prevent them not only from being employed but also from actively searching for employment or being available to work at short notice,” ILO said, adding that these requirements are a pre-requisite for unemployment registration.
Highlighting how the jobs gender gap has remained almost unchanged between 2005 and 2022, ILO pointed out that women continue to be overrepresented in many vulnerable sectors, such as running their households or working for relatives, rather than for themselves.
“This vulnerability, together with lower employment rates, takes a toll on women’s earnings,” the UN agency said. “Globally, for each dollar of labour income men earn, women earned only 51 cents.”
UN Women/Pornvit Visitoran
Male pay bias
Significant differences exist between regions, with low and lower-middle income countries seeing far worse gender disparity in income, with women earning 33 cents and 29 cents on the dollar, respectively.
In high-income and upper-middle income countries, women’s relative labour income reaches 58 and 56 cents respectively per dollar earned by men.
“Gender imbalances in access to employment and working conditions are greater than previously thought, particularly in the developing world…the pace of progress is disappointingly slow,” said ILO.
According to the UN labour agency, the global unemployment rate stood at 5.8 per cent in 2022, below the average rates in the two decades before the pandemic, and it is projected to remain at that level in 2023.
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