Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

The project of international intellectual cooperation following the First World War was one that League of Nations officials realised could not be accomplished through the efforts of the organization and governments alone.

“The youth of today will constitute the public opinion of tomorrow”.

In 1922, against the backdrop of manifold challenges faced by scholarly and scientific endeavours across Central Europe, the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC) was established to advise the League of Nations on how one might best assist intellectual exchange and foster international cooperation.

In early September 1936, two international writers’ congresses took place in Buenos Aires: the PEN Club’s and the Entretien.

This brief provides evidence of the different ways in which women’s rights organizations have been affected by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, highlighting the predicament that many of them face of increased relevance and demand at the same time as civic closure, restrictive work conditions, and diminishing funding. By showcasing the critical roles these organizations are playing in the context of the pandemic as essential service providers, advocates, and watchdogs, this brief also identifies a set of recommendations to strengthen them in the immediate term and pave the way for a more equal post-COVID future.

This research brief is one of a series of five briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child well-being in low- and middle-income countries. These briefs summarize evidence as mapped against the five goal areas of UNICEF’s 2018–2021 Strategic Plan, although it is anticipated that they will also be useful for others working in the child well-being space.

The development path followed by a country prior to graduation from the least developed country category has significant implications with regard to the challenges to be faced after graduation. The current conceptualization of a smooth transition strategy primarily aims to create a short-term post-graduation “soft landing” and ease concerns with regard to preparation for engaging in economic relations as a non-least developed country. Therefore, the concept currently does not have a focus on preparing countries for graduation with momentum. UNCTAD has maintained that the post-graduation success of a country significantly depends on the foundations built prior to graduation. Graduating countries need a new strategy, one that prepares them for the challenges ahead by linking the graduation process with the development of productive capacities and sustainable development. UNCTAD has proposed an alternative policy framework to help refocus the objectives and strategic direction of graduation strategies, as well as a new time frame for implementation.

Women cross-border traders face significant challenges, including time constraints, costs of burdensome procedures, discrimination and harassment at borders. Despite multilateral calls to address those issues and to make trade policies gender-responsive, notably the Revised Buenos Aires Declaration, limited progress has been made on gender equality in trade. This policy brief outlines key gender-based barriers for women traders and provides 10+1 policy recommendations to address them.

Institutions and regulators could consider investing in requisite resources and building capacities in deploying sandboxes and experiments, with the medium- and long-term aims to advance agile, responsive and resilient approaches in adopting new technologies and in preparing for the future of digital government and sustainable development.

Activities geared to strengthening the capacity of public servants to implement the 2030 Agenda have multiplied rapidly since 2015, with a multiplicity of national and international actors involved. Yet, available information does not easily allow for a consolidated picture of how ongoing efforts address gaps at the level of individual countries. Areas identified in the Agenda itself as needing capacity building, such as data, statistical systems, follow up and review, have received high attention, as have planning and SDG localization. The landscape of capacity building for SDG implementation appears fragmented. There likely is untapped potential for cross-fertilization of capacity building initiatives. Reporting on capacity-building activities for public servants has not been a consistently high priority of governments. Because of this, the degree of responsiveness of capacity-building activities to recipients’ and countries’ needs is hard to assess. Government-wide capacity-building gap assessments and strategies are rare. Little is known about the changes in learning outcomes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which can have longer-term impacts on capacity in the public service.