BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:unctad.org BEGIN:VEVENT UID:6a95d25e7a6b5 DTSTART:20240222T100000Z SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE DTEND:20240222T120000Z LOCATION:Online\, SUMMARY:IFF Project in Ghana\, Namibia and Zambia: Kick-off workshop CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are co-custodian s of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 16.4.1 on the “tot al value of inward and outward illicit financial flows”. UNCTAD\, in col laboration with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)\, has implemented a UN Development Account project from 2018 to 2022 on “Defining\, estim ating and disseminating statistics on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs)”\, in 11 countries on the African continent\, including Ghana\, Namibia\, and Zambia. The project focused on developing a statistical methodology to es timate IFFs and resulted in the finalisation of the UNCTAD-UNODC IFF Conce ptual Framework in 2020 and the UNCTAD Methodological Guidelines in 2021\, to measure tax and commercial IFFs\, and tested by all pioneering countri es.\n\nThe project and related guidelines supported the countries to asses s the types of IFFs relevant to their national contexts. Countries pilot t ested between one and three of the methods to measure different types of I FFs\, including trade misinvoicing\, profit shifting and offshore wealth. In parallel\, UNCTAD Africa\, Least Developed Countries (ALDC) Division wa s focusing on strengthening research and data analysis skills in selected pioneering countries and developing targeted policy measures linked to spe cific IFF activities. These pioneering countries have paved the way for th e approach to measure IFFs\, providing a wealth of knowledge\, lessons lea rned and resources such as terms of references\, tools and guidelines.\n\n At the end of the project\, more work was necessary to confirm the prelimi nary estimates and extend them to other types of IFFs towards reporting da ta on the Global SDGs Indicator Database for 16.4.1.  At half-way point t hrough the 2030 Agenda and in the conditions of compounding crises\, it is more urgent than ever to pursue SDG target 16.4 to significantly reduce i llicit financial (and arms) flows by 2030\, strengthen the recovery and re turn of stolen assets and combat all forms of organized crime. The new pro ject proposes to refine preliminary estimates\, to pilot test new methodol ogies and report results on the Global SDGs Database\, as well as to link estimates with policy formulation and action.\n\nObjectives\n\nThe objecti ves of the online regional workshop are as follow: Kick-off the project an d introducing the different entities\; Present the project components\, ob jectives\, activities and timeline\; Countries share expectations on measu rement and policy pillars\, confirming their national objectives.\n\nParti cipants\n\nUNCTAD Statistics\; UNCTAD ALDC\; Ghana Statistical Service\; B ank of Namibia\; Zambia Statistics Agency\; other relevant national instit utions in countries\; ECA (tbc)\; UN Regional Coordinator Offices (tbc).\n <\;p>\;The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are co-custodian s of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 16.4.1 on the <\;e m>\;“total value of inward and outward illicit financial flows”<\; /em>\;. UNCTAD\, in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Afric a (ECA)\, has implemented a UN Development Account project from 2018 to 20 22 on “Defining\, estimating and disseminating statistics on Illicit Fin ancial Flows (IFFs)”\, in 11 countries on the African continent\, includ ing Ghana\, Namibia\, and Zambia. The project focused on developing a stat istical methodology to estimate IFFs and resulted in the finalisation of t he UNCTAD-UNODC IFF Conceptual Framework in 2020 and the UNCTAD Methodolog ical Guidelines in 2021\, to measure tax and commercial IFFs\, and tested by all pioneering countries.<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;The project and rel ated guidelines supported the countries to assess the types of IFFs releva nt to their national contexts. Countries pilot tested between one and thre e of the methods to measure different types of IFFs\, including trade misi nvoicing\, profit shifting and offshore wealth. In parallel\, UNCTAD Afric a\, Least Developed Countries (ALDC) Division was focusing on strengthenin g research and data analysis skills in selected pioneering countries and d eveloping targeted policy measures linked to specific IFF activities. Thes e pioneering countries have paved the way for the approach to measure IFFs \, providing a wealth of knowledge\, lessons learned and resources such as terms of references\, tools and guidelines.<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;At the end of the project\, more work was necessary to confirm the preliminar y estimates and extend them to other types of IFFs towards reporting data on the Global SDGs Indicator Database for 16.4.1.&\;nbsp\; At half-way point through the 2030 Agenda and in the conditions of compounding crises\ , it is more urgent than ever to pursue SDG target 16.4 to significantly r educe illicit financial (and arms) flows by 2030\, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organized crime. The new project proposes to refine preliminary estimates\, to pilot test new m ethodologies and report results on the Global SDGs Database\, as well as t o link estimates with policy formulation and action.<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p >\;<\;strong>\;Objectives<\;/strong>\;<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\ ;The objectives of the online regional workshop are as follow: Kick-off th e project and introducing the different entities\; Present the project com ponents\, objectives\, activities and timeline\; Countries share expectati ons on measurement and policy pillars\, confirming their national objectiv es.<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;<\;strong>\;Participants<\;/strong>\ ;<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;UNCTAD Statistics\; UNCTAD ALDC\; Ghana Statis tical Service\; Bank of Namibia\; Zambia Statistics Agency\; other relevan t national institutions in countries\; ECA (tbc)\; UN Regional Coordinator Offices (tbc).<\;/p>\;\n\n\nView meeting on unctad.org\nhttps://uncta d.org/meeting/iff-project-ghana-namibia-and-zambia-kick-workshop DTSTAMP:20260831T191334Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR