Short courses for Geneva-based delegates - Least developed countries: Development challenges and policies in the 2020s

Least developed countries: Development challenges and policies in the 2020s

The international community agreed in December 2021 to recommend for adoption the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2022–2031. It should provide a framework for policy action on least developed country development during the 2020s, to be undertaken both by the least developed countries themselves and by least developed country development partners. The course will analyse the priorities set out in the new Programme of Action, compare it with the Sustainable Development Goals and evaluate its likely contribution to least developed countries weathering their current and emerging development challenges.

The objectives of the course are as follows:

• Provide an overall picture of the major development challenges of the least developed countries in the 2020s. These challenges include: (a) the lingering structural vulnerabilities typical of least developed country underdevelopment; and (b) emerging challenges such as the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the acceleration of climate change, the restructuring of global value chains and digital transformation.
• Critically analyse the likely contribution of the new Programme of Action to least developed countries weathering the major challenges with which they will be confronted in the present decade.
• Provide a clear picture of the policy priorities for least developed countries, in view of the process of negotiation and adoption of the new Programme of Action.