ECA Innovations Showcased at ECOSOC 2007
10 July, 2007
ECA participated at the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) session of the High-Level Panel meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in Geneva, Switzerland, from 2-6 July 2007. ECOSOC is the supervisory organ of the United Nations to which ECA reports.
This annual meeting provides an opportunity for countries and UN Regional Commissions such as ECA, ESCAP, ESCWA and ECE, as well as other UN agencies and Civil Society Organizations, to gather and exchange views and experiences around programmes related to economic and social development.
This year's agenda included Annual Ministerial Reviews (AMR), an Innovation Fair and side events focused on the progress made in the implementation of the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits, with specific emphasis on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
On the opening day, UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, launched the UN's Annual MDG Report and later on visited the Innovation Fair. At the ECA stand, ECA staff took the SG through the following ECA innovations which were on display: the MDG Mapper tool and the web-based Poverty Reduction Strategy PRS/MDG Knowledge Sharing platform, aimed at networking and sharing experiences and best practices among Communities of Practice (CoP) involved in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating PRSs, MDGs and National Development Strategies in Africa.
The ECA Executive Secretary, Abdoulie Janneh, participated very actively in the AMR and the launch of the Development Cooperation Forum. In his presentation on “Promoting Knowledge Sharing for Capacity building to Achieve the MDGs in Africa,” made at the side event “Implementation of the MDGs at regional level and road maps”, Mr. Janneh expounded on ECA's role in the capacity-building of African members States to scale-up efforts and promote Knowledge-Sharing towards achieving the MDGs. Similarly, all Regional Commissions represented by their Executive Secretaries presented MDG progress reports and the role of the Commissions in their respective regions.
More than 200 participants, including representatives of member States visited the ECA stand to collect CDs and publications and expressed their appreciation for ECA's innovative initiatives, MDG reports, publications, take-away CDs on the PRS/MDG Knowledge-Sharing platform and the MDG map posters exhibited at the Innovation Fair.
The PRS/MDG Knowledge-Sharing Network supports the African PRS/MDG Learning Group and researchers with a web-based knowledge and experience-sharing platform, which enables PRS/MDG Communities of Practice to continuously generate, contribute, archive and disseminate their knowledge and expertise based on their country experiences, lessons learned, best practices and relevant documents on PRSs and MDGs in Africa.
The MDG Mapper, integrated into the PRS/MDG Knowledge-Sharing website, is a mapping tool for monitoring progress towards achieving the MDGs in Africa. The tool generates country-specific maps at national, regional and district levels for the purpose of decision-making on public policies.
Another event prepared to monitor MDG progress in Africa was the AMR, where Ethiopia, Ghana and Cape Verde voluntarily offered to share their respective national development programmes for review. Mr. Mekonnen Manyazewal, State Minister of Finance and Economic Development of Ethiopia, and Prof. George Gyan Baffour, Deputy Minster of Finance of the Republic of Ghana presented their country experiences and successful results, as well as the challenges they faced towards achieving the MDGs in their respective countries.
The Republic of Cape Verde, meanwhile, was represented by its Minister of External Affairs. Of particular importance is the fact that Cape Verde has graduated into the Group of Middle Income countries and is now at risk of losing concessional funding from its development partners.
Mr. Mekonnen Manyazewal was enthusiastic about the participation of Ethiopia at the ECOSOC meeting, which, he said, “gave the delegation a chance to share its country experience and receive feedback during the AMR session”.
“We extend our gratitude to the ECA which provided technical and advisory assistance to the MoFED in preparing the Ethiopian report for the AMR whereby we showcased Ethiopia's development efforts to achieve the MDGs,” he said, adding that they had good feedback from the Council and learned from other countries. “We realize that the MDGs will only have meaning if we develop these goals and targets specific to each region and district via region-specific MDG assessments and following up these activities at each levels,” he said.
In her presentation, Dr. Regina O. Adutwum, Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission of the Republic of Ghana, noted that the introduction of the National Voluntary presentations in the AMR is an innovation in ECOSOC. “IT offers developing countries the opportunity to articulate their development challenges while showcasing their achievements,” she said.
The AMR and the DCG concluded on July 6, 2007.