Capacity development

 

Capacity Building Projects

The Development Account is an integral part of the technical co-operation activities of the economic and social entities of the United Nations under the umbrella of the Executive Committee for Economic and Social Affairs (EC-ESA).

Development Account projects aim at capacity-building through sub-regional, regional and interregional economic and technical co-operation among developing countries. Each individual project is aimed at achieving a distinct development impact. Projects are executed by member entities of EC-ESA, and often in co-operation between more than one entity. The Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs acts as Programme Manager of the Account.

DESA assists numerous countries with their econometric modelling for macroeconomic policy analysis. It develops toolkits, in the form of country models and training material that can be adapted to country-specific needs. It also helps countries adapt a CGE based methodological framework to their respective country contexts and promotes crucial dialogue between policy makers and researchers, and encourages South-South dialogue and the sharing of best practices

The Department also supports countries in developing a model framework that allows them to simulate the impact of negative growth shocks – such as the one triggered by the global financial crisis – on MDG achievement, financing needs, and the needs for improved mechanisms of social protection. In turn, necessary policy adjustments can be formulated, in order to protect previous progress and to continue the pursuit of a timely achievement of the MDGs.

DESA is currently managing or supporting four active capacity-building projects related to the crisis and sponsored by the Development Account:

MDG Gap Task Force

The Millennium Development Goal Gap Task Force was created by the Secretary-General of the United Nations following the discussion of the Policy Committee on 1 May 2007 (Decision No. 2007/22) to improve monitoring of the global commitments contained in the MDGs.

The main purpose of this Task Force is to systematically track existing international commitments and their fulfillment at the international and country level in the areas of official development assistance, market access (trade), debt relief, access to essential medicines and technology.

The Task Force represents more than 20 UN agencies, including participation from the World Bank and the IMF, as well as OECD and WTO. The United Nations Development Programme and DESA are lead agencies in co-ordinating the work of the Task Force.