Welcome to the United Nations
UNDESA in collaboration with ESCWA and ECLAC will host an inter-regional workshop from 8 – 10 May 2018 at the UN House (ESCWA) in Beirut, Lebanon under the theme: “Revisiting socio-economic policies to address poverty in all its dimensions in middle-income countries”. The workshop will have a strong regional focus by examining the experiences and challenges faced by middle income countries in the Arab and the Latin America and Caribbean in addressing poverty in its multiple dimensions. Participants will come from national governments, civil society organizations and academia and the United Nations System. They will identify areas that are critical to attain the objectives of SDG1 and share good policies and practices and lessons learned at the national and regional levels. Discussions at the workshop will provide the basis for UNDESA, ESCWA and ECLAC to further elaborate key objectives and activities for a Development Account (DA) project proposal on addressing multidimensional poverty in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in middle income countries in the Arab and the Latin America and Caribbean regions.
The workshop aims to examine national experiences in developing poverty reduction policies oriented toward achieving the SDGs, with a focus on the examination of macro-fiscal and economic policies, as well as social policy, including social protection. Moreover, the workshop will discuss challenges, lessons learned and good practices, with an aim to improve evidence-based policy-making, including analysis, policy formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Discussions will also address the institutional mechanisms that promote more coherent and integrated approaches to poverty reduction, and the necessary coordination among different sectors and stakeholders. The workshop will also contribute to enhance the knowledge of participants and help DESA, ESCWA and ECLAC to identify a set of recommendations to develop a framework to support countries at policy and analysis level to address poverty in all its dimensions.