Voznesensk, a city in Mykolaiv Oblast with a population of about 40,000, was occupied by Russian invasion forces in March 2022. The town was heavily bombarded because of its strategic location, on the way to Kyiv, Odesa and other major cities. The occupation lasted only three days, but more than 700 buildings were damaged or destroyed. The 51³Ô¹Ï Development Programme () – together with the EU and the Governments of Sweden and Denmark – opened a Recovery and Development Office in the city in early January 2023 to coordinate international aid and support local authorities, NGOs, and businesses. In June 2023, UNDP helped set up a community security and recovery working group and is building two additional police stations to serve over 5,000 residents.
Economic Development
Thousands of moto-taxi drivers in Togo are adopting electric motorcycles as the country aims to become a regional leader in e-mobility. The African country is among over 40 countries collaborating with to expedite the transition to low-emission transportation through the .
Alaa Abu Mudallah started the "Khotwa" training center in Gaza to address the lack of practical and technical support for students. The center thrived, with 400-500 students each month, until it was hit and demolished during the Gaza escalation of May 2021, forcing Alaa to start over. As the economic situation worsens in the fourth month of the Gaza war, Alaa has lost everything and is now relying on her savings to survive, which she finds humiliating. An earlier estimated that if the war continued for more than three months, poverty would increase by 20-45 percent and the Human Development Index would plummet, setting back progress by 11-16 years.
This episode of The Weekly Tradecast looks at the impact of the Israel-Gaza crisis on the Palestinian economy with the 51³Ô¹Ï Conference on Trade and Development () economist Rami Alazzeh. Since the deadly assault by Hamas militants on October 7, Israel's military response has destroyed more than 37,000 buildings and displaced most of the 2.3 million people in the tiny enclave. With so much destruction, UNCTAD says in a new report that rebuilding Gaza will be all the more difficult given the already dire state of the economy from Israel’s decades-long blockade.
Urbanization has led to around 4.4 billion people living in cities today, accounting for 56% of the global population. This has made cities economic powerhouses but has come at a cost. The Global Environment Facility () Small Grants Programme (), implemented by the 51³Ô¹Ï Development Programme (), supports local communities in developing sustainable urban solutions. SGP operates in 127 countries, providing financial and technical support to community-based organizations. Their focus areas include clean energy access and sustainable transport, biodiversity conservation, land use planning, climate action, and more. SGP has supported over 28,000 community-based projects in 136 countries with over $795 million in project funding.
The current Israeli military operation in Gaza will take tens of billions of dollars and many decades to reverse, according to a new released by the 51³Ô¹Ï Conference on Trade and Development (). According to the report, the Israeli offensive greatly accelerated the contraction of Gaza's economy, resulting in a 24% contraction of GDP and a 26.1% drop in GDP per capita for the entire year. In addition, has displaced 85% of Gaza's population, halting economic activities and further worsening poverty and unemployment. The recovery of Gaza's economy from the current military operation will demand a financial commitment several times more than the $3.9 billion that resulted from the 2014 military operation in Gaza and will require a concerted international effort to restore pre-conflict socioeconomic conditions.
The , launched in New York, presents a sombre economic outlook for the near term, with global growth in 2024 projected to slow to 2.4 per cent. The world economy in 2023 proved to be resilient, exceeding expectations with an estimated growth rate of 2.7 per cent, higher than the 2.3 per cent forecast last May. Persistently high interest rates, potential escalation of conflicts, sluggish international trade, and increasing climate disasters, pose significant challenges to the world economy.
is an initiative led by the (UNDP) that aims to make economies work for gender equality. The earnings gap between men and women is only one part of a broader gender imbalance that has many causes and serious consequences for women's well-being and overall development progress. According to the if women earned the same as men over their lifetimes, the world could reap a significant 'gender dividend'. This is why lifting women out of poverty is critical to achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 on gender equality and has multiplier effects for all 17 Goals. Equanomics envisions a new path by dismantling economic structures that generate and perpetuate gender inequality, and it is helping countries take it by building expertise and supporting partners that want to transform their economies to work better for everyone.
The 2023 Global Investment Trends Monitor by UNCTAD reported a 3% growth in global foreign direct investment (FDI), primarily driven by European "conduit" economies; however, excluding these economies revealed an 18% decline in global FDI flows, indicating mixed results for sustainable development investment.
The global economy seems to be improving as 2024 begins, but caution is in order. The World Bank's indicates that growth is expected to decelerate for a third year in a row. The 2020s are shaping up to be an era of wasted opportunity, with the weakest global growth performance of any half-decade since 1990. The end of 2024 will mark the halfway point of what was supposed to be a transformative decade for development-one that would eliminate extreme poverty, eradicate major communicable diseases, and nearly halve greenhouse gas emissions. Weak economic growth threatens to undermine many global requirements, making it harder for developing countries to generate the investment needed to tackle climate change, improve health and education, and meet other key priorities.
We are on the verge of a technological revolution that has the potential to increase productivity, global growth, and income around the world. However, it may also result in job loss and worsen inequality. According to a new from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), almost 40% of jobs globally are exposed to AI. In advanced economies, about 60% of jobs may be impacted by AI, while in emerging markets and low-income countries, that exposure is expected to be 40% and 26% respectively. While many jobs may benefit from AI integration, some jobs may disappear and lead to lower wages and reduced hiring. In developing economies, the risk of technology worsening inequality among nations is higher due to a lack of skilled workforce and infrastructure.
Well-informed policy decisions are needed in shaping AI's impact on productivity growth, the labor market, and industrial concentration.
The project has effectively reduced greenhouse gas emissions and promoted green technologies in 55 factories and SMEs, leading to a boost in productivity.
Global regulators will ignite discussions on the future of vehicle safety and emissions at the upcoming session of the in Geneva (9-12 January). The is one of the subsidiary bodies of the UNECE's World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations, which is responsible for setting global automotive standards for vehicle safety and emissions. Follow the for updates on the Working Party's progress and to learn more about its work in shaping the future of environmentally friendly transportation.
Cheshma Shirin is a village in Afghanistan where Fatema and her three children live. She weaves wire mesh for gabions to protect the village from flooding and erosion. It is a necessary skill in an area that has suffered from increasingly extreme weather, with floods and droughts affecting the villages. Fatema learned this skill through an Emergency Food Security project funded by the and the (FAO), which provides essential livelihood support, health services, and food assistance to the people of Afghanistan. The project complements other FAO programmes aimed at long-term recovery and resilience-building.