South-South Exchange on Preparing Smooth Transition Strategies: Graduating cohort of 2021
In 2021, the Committee for Development Policy for the United Nations (CDP) recommended Bangladesh, Lao PDR, and Nepal for graduation from Least Developed Country (LDC) status.
In light of the exceptional circumstances posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Bangladesh, Lao PDR and Nepal were afforded an extended 5-year preparatory period, in place of the standard 3 years. Since this recommendation, the COVID-19 crisis was compounded by the high cost of food and energy as well as financial constraints, further complicating the efforts of the world’s most vulnerable states in achieving sustainable development.
All three countries are expected to use the preparatory period to develop their Smooth Transition Strategies (STS) ensuring that their development momentum is maintained, while preventing any disruptions to their development progress and ensuring the sustainability of their graduation.
Graduating countries will face several challenges, but also opportunities. By enhancing collaboration between each other during the preparation stages, Bangladesh, Lao PDR and Nepal will be able to benefit from these opportunities while developing their strategies. In this context, the UN - through iGRAD (Sustainable Graduation Support Facility), a country-led, partnership-based global platform offered through the Inter-agency Task Force on LDC graduation (IATF) - is providing integrated capacity-building support in the form of policy and technical advisory and financial support, as recognized in the Doha Programme of Action. It will contribute to smooth transition and sustainable graduation of Bangladesh, Lao PDR and Nepal. This South-South-Exchange workshop is one of the many modalities being offered via iGRAD through the IATF. It is expected to re-energize the STS preparation process, learn from the industry/sector experts, share ideas amongst each other, and devise some common guidelines for transition.
Government officials and key stakeholders from the private sector, academia, research institutes, think tanks and civil society, at the technical level, who would directly work on formulating and drafting the STS in their respective countries are expected to attend the event alongside representatives from RCOs, DESA, ESCAP, OHRLLS, and other relevant UN agencies. The workshop is being funded by DESA as a contribution to iGRAD and through its Project “New assistance measures for graduating LDCs”, supported by the UN Peace and Development Fund.
Objectives:
- Discuss common challenges of graduation and identify pathways to address them collaboratively in devising the STS.
- Identify key international support for the Smooth Transition Strategies of each country and devise plans for advocacy.
- Advocate jointly and separately for effective international support for the implementation of national Smooth Transition Strategies.
Key deliverables:
- Working papers or presentations on key challenge areas for graduating LDCs.
- Accumulation of views from policymakers, private sector, development partners, academia, and CSOs on graduation related challenges and recommendations to overcome them in their respective country context.
- STS processes of the graduating cohort of 2021.
- Common advocacy points for the Fifth UN Conference on LDCs (LDC5) Part Two (to be held in Doha in March 2023).