ESCWA WEEKLY NEWS No. 58

Access to finance for municipalities in the water, energy and food sectors

On 29 and 30 January, ESCWA and the Royal Scientific Society (RSS) co-organized a regional workshop on access to finance for municipalities in the water, energy and food sectors, in Amman. The workshop was held as part of two Sida-funded projects, REGEND and MINARET.

The nexus approach to water, energy and food issues, decentralization, access to finance, bankability of projects, community engagement, and gender mainstreaming in those development areas were among the topics of discussion.

Participants included representatives of Sida, the League of Arab States, the European Union, GIZ, the United Nations Development Programme, and various ministries, municipalities, private sector and financial entities, non-governmental organizations and research institutions from Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia.

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Technology for persons with disabilities in Syria

On 29 January, ESCWA and the Syrian Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour (MoSAL) held a workshop in Damascus on policies to enhance e-accessibility and assistive technology development for persons with disabilities. 

The workshop aimed at building knowledge and raising awareness of the importance of leveraging technology and localizing it to empower persons with disability, in particular in conflict settings.

The workshop focused on the impact that empowering persons with disabilities through technology can have on sustainable development, namely on access to decent work, economic growth and reduced inequalities. Participants also discussed how such empowerment can serve to meet the general obligations stipulated in article 4 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Two recommendations resulted from the discussions: the need to ensure e-accessibility for persons with disabilities through a national policy, and the role of local manufacturing of assistive technologies in conflict-affected countries in accelerating the recovery process.

The ESCWA Disability Framework

The “ESCWA Disability Framework: 115 indicators to bridge the gap between policy and statistics” is the first three-dimensional disability framework that maps disability-related indicators to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The framework and its 115 indicators embody a major step forward in bridging the gap between policy and statistics and monitoring progress in upholding the rights of persons with disabilities.

The framework facilitates reporting about persons with disabilities in development areas including education, employment, empowerment, health and justice. It also assists data producers in providing more comprehensive information for policymakers, so as to ensure that all persons with disabilities are indeed included.

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ESCWA partakes in YASA road safety campaign

On 28 January, at the YASA road safety awareness campaign held in Jdeideh municipality, north of Beirut, ESCWA stressed that it would be possible for humanity to overcome road traffic fatalities in the future. 

The ESCWA regional advisor on transport and logistics presented on a “Safe Systems Approach to Road Safety”. He showed facts related to road traffic crashes, which are the leading cause of death of children and young people in the world, and leave millions with severe injuries.

He also spoke of the increasing role of technology in overcoming human error and limitations. However, this would be a shared responsibility between the industry, non-governmental organizations, the academia, drivers, users of transportation means, relief support and traffic-related public agencies.

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Did you know...

… that, despite pledges to boost development financing, aid levels are falling? Net official development assistance totaled $149 billion in 2018, down by 2.7% in real terms from 2017. Personal remittances from migrant workers abroad are becoming the largest source of external financing in developing countries. Effective mobilization of domestic resources, including through taxation, is critical to achieving the SDGs.

Official development assistance in the Arab region stands at about $14 billion, with the share of Arab least developed countries representing less than 10%. Migrant workers are a large source of income: in 2017, the region received $50 billion in remittances and, for several countries, the volume as a proportion of GDP exceeded 10%.

Photo credit: snowing

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