Mr Asad Naqvi, head of the PAGE Secretariat, moderated the first session of the high-level discussion. In his introduction, he shared some reflections on sustainable development regressions during and post-COVID-19, how misallocation of capital is preventing us from addressing the multiple global crises, and inequality and poverty as increasingly substantial barriers for Green Economic Transformation. Additionally, he stressed the importance of an integrated approach, requiring the UN system to unite to successfully leverage the UN reforms for a fair and green transition.
The session featured interventions by Sabina Alkire, Director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative; Valérie Schmitt, Deputy Director, Social Protection Department at International Labour Organization; Margaret Chitiga, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of Pretoria; and George Gray Molina, Chief Economist and Head of the Inclusive Growth team at UNDP’s Global Policy Bureau. Participants discussed key tools to enable countries in tackling multidimensional poverty and inequality, ensuring a sustainable and equitable economic transformation, and the most urgent policy steps to reverse the debt crisis and accelerate the economic transformation.
Ms. Alkire highlighted the need to share accessible information on poverty beyond monetary measurements, considering health, education, employment, and living standards. A key discussion point, made by Ms. Schmitt, was the significance of strong social protection systems to support workers and populations already affected by climate change and extreme events.
Discussing implications of the debt crisis impacting over 50 countries, Mr. Gray Molina remarked on the urgency to reverse said crisis; however, as it is not enough to get the best policies in place, he called for a multilateral shift on financing and debt relief to foster inclusive green growth and address the climate emergency while reducing poverty and inequalities.
Professor Chitiga, consulted circa positive examples in addressing these challenges, praised several best practices in the Southern African region and highlighted Africa’s opportunity of greening its economy to solve injustice, gender issues, poverty and unemployment. She further stressed the need for African governments to tackle corruption, prioritize crisis response, and make Africa an attractive place for investment.
The second session, moderated by Marta Cali, Chief of Policy, Development Coordination Office (DCO), focused on exchanging best practices from UN Resident Coordinator Offices (RCOs) and RCO Economists, providing examples of different countries’ challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned in tackling sustainable development challenges.
In this segment, the RCO Economists and PAGE National Coordinators from Mauritius, Morocco, Indonesia, Mozambique, and Argentina shared experiences and knowledge at the country level to accelerate green economic transformation in terms of investments, policymaking, strategic planning, and the support that the UN system can provide.
Marta Cali expressed commitment to collaboration between DCO, the PAGE Secretariat, and the five member agencies. She emphasized the importance of working closely with RCO Economists to assist countries in reframing economic policies and national development planning around sustainability and social inclusion, creating an enabling environment to finance the green transition, and building capacity for sustainable development policy design and implementation.
PAGE engages across the UN system to leverage collective expertise in economic thinking, offering deeper policy advice to partners and contributing to a strengthened global understanding of green economy principles.
To date, PAGE has grown into a prominent alliance of five UN agencies, 8 funding partners, and 22 partner countries that work together to transform economies into drivers of sustainability by supporting nations and regions in reframing economic policies and practices around sustainability.
Source: PAGE
