Resources

A decade marked for accelerated action and delivery towards sustainable development has been disrupted by a global health threat that has severely impacted the Arab region. The focus now is on urgent action to save lives and repair livelihoods. This crisis is a stark reminder of why an efficient and effective public sector is the first line of defence in addressing systemic risks. This perilous pandemic is spreading through the Arab region at a…

The first ESCWA Award on Advancing Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women was presented by Ms. Rima Khalaf, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), to three staff members. The award is delivered for the first time and constitutes a milestone for ESCWA, which is integrating gender perspectives in its plans, policies and programmes. At a ceremony held…

The Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Journal is published twice a year by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. It aims to stimulate debate and enrich research in the formulation of policy in the Asia-Pacific region towards the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In this issue: An emerging but vulnerable middle class: a description of trends in Asia and the Pacific by Orlando Zambrano Roman…

In partnership with Asian Association of Public Administration (AAPA), Indonesian Association of Public Administration (IAPA) and Asian Group for Public Administration (AGPA), this webinar will be a platform to discuss a burning concern of public administration and local governance, that of inter-local cooperation.   File added date: March 2021 Organized by: AAPA URL: http://www.aapa.asia/contents/bbspage/xbd/board.php?bo_table=m2_db2&…

Asia and the Pacific is a key driver of a technological revolution that is profoundly transforming the way we live, work and relate to one another. At the same time, the region is also one of the most digitally divided, with less than 14 per cent of the population connected to affordable and reliable high-speed Internet. Around 52 per cent of the region’s population remains offline. As the COVID-19 new normal has seen our reliance on…

Laws and regulations related to access to information and openness are very important for the implementation of open government principles. These laws cover several areas, such as access to information, protection of personal data, citizen participation and anti-corruption. However, the access information law is the basis and core stone for open government. The adoption of this law, and its implementation are of great importance for launching…

Signed by 52 African countries, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is, by the number of participating countries, the largest trade agreement since the formation of the WTO. By 1 April 2019, only one year and ten days after the signature, the threshold of ratification by 22 countries required for the agreement’s entry into force had been reached. The speed of this ratification is unprecedented in African Union history.​ With so…

KIPA received an award from the prime minister for the ‘merit in the regulatory reform’ at the Government Complex-Seoul on 31 July, 2020. KIPA has been consistently putting efforts in researches on the regulatory reform. Specifically, KIPA was recognized for its contribution in regulatory reform and effective evaluation on the government regulations through construction and review of regulatory impact analysis reports in the administration and…

COVID-19 has highlighted how critical digital connectivity is to governments, businesses, and society, and has brought a newfound sense of urgency to the digital inclusion agenda. While the crisis has enabled hundreds of millions to participate online, it has also exacerbated the digital divide for 47% of the world’s population that remains unconnected. The post-COVID world will be more digital – requiring more connectivity, digital skills, and…

The year 2020 witnessed a transformational change in global development as the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on Member States and other stakeholders to “kickstart a decade of delivery and action for people and planet”, given the short time left to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.By surveying and studying broad patterns of digital government around the world, the United Nations E-Government Survey…

Building on the findings of the Arab Sustainable Development Report 2020 (ASDR 2020), the first in the region to offer a quantitative and qualitative analysis of all 17 SDGs, ESCWA and the WHO EMRO are jointly organizing a high-level discussion in collaboration with UNICEF and UNFPA on:   - What is COVID-19 telling us about the region’s progress on SDG 3 and efforts to ensure the health and well-being of 430+ million people in the Arab world…

The report contributes to  three reflections that could be a little light on the current debate; The first is that there must necessarily be a reformulation of the seventeen SDGs or in any case a prioritization of their implementation. In this line, and in line with the proposal of authors specialized in development and what is expressed by international organizations themselves, the collaborative action between the State and society should…