Economic and Social Development

يتناول موجز السياسات هذا الواقع المتبدّل للوظائف الخضراء في المنطقة العربية، مستنداً إلى بيانات آنية مستخرجة من مرصد مهارات الإسكوا لتحديد الاتجاهات والفجوات والفرص. وعلى الرغم من الزخم العالمي، لا تمثل الوظائف الخضراء سوى 5.06 في المائة من مجموع إعلانات الوظائف على الإنترنت في المنطقة العربية حتى عام 2024، وقد سُجِّلت أعلى نسب منها في اقتصادات كبرى مثل المملكة العربية السعودية وعُمان وقطر. ويتناول هذا الموجز قطاع النفط والغاز بمزيدٍ من التفصيل لتقييم مدى تحوّله نحو الاستدامة. وتُظْهِرُ النتائج أن 23 في المائة من الوظائف ضمن هذا القطاع باتت تُصنَّف على أنها وظائف خضراء، مما يُشير إلى بوادر أولية للتحوّل الأخضر في أحد أكثر القطاعات كثافة في الانبعاثات الكربونية في المنطقة. ومع ذلك، تبقى الفجوة قائمة بين المهن التي تتّسم بمواءمة عالية مع التحوّل الأخضر وتلك التي تسجِّل طلباً مرتفعاً. وثمّة حاجة إلى سياسات تعزِّز الاستثمار الأخضر، وتدمج مبادئ الاستدامة في أنظمة التعليم والقوى العاملة، وتعزِّز أنظمة معلومات سوق العمل، في سبيل توجيه التحوّل الأخضر العادل والشامل.

This policy brief examines the evolving landscape of green jobs in the Arab region, drawing on real-time data from the ESCWA Skills Monitor to identify trends, gaps and opportunities. Despite global momentum, green jobs account for just 5.06 per cent of online job postings in the Arab region as of 2024, with the highest concentrations observed in larger economies such as Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar. This policy brief takes a closer look at the oil and gas sector to assess the extent of its transition toward sustainability. Findings show that 23 per cent of jobs within the sector are now classified as green, signalling early signs of greening in one of the region’s most carbon-intensive industries. However, there remains a disconnect between occupations with high green alignment and those in high demand. Policies that scale up green investment, embed sustainability in education and workforce systems, and enhance labour market intelligence are needed to guide a just and inclusive green transition.

Amid uneven SDG progress and overlapping crises, efforts to deliver sustainable development that leaves no one behind continue to face persistent, intersecting barriers—even where commitments are strong. Consider, for example, the experience of a woman with a disability in an informal settlement: she cannot afford assistive devices, faces inaccessible infrastructure, encounters weak enforcement of rules, experiences hiring bias and may struggle to evacuate during an earthquake. This scenario shows how multiple barriers converge to deepen exclusion. This policy brief highlights five dimensions where exclusion is often observed—affordability, access, governance, participation and external shocks, among others—and illustrates how governments are responding in each through policy examples and observations. Insights are drawn from 2024–2025 country implementation updates from thirteen countries that announced commitments at the 2023 SDG Summit, as well as 2025 Voluntary National Review (VNR) reports from three additional countries3 with such commitments. The analysis is intended to inform global policy discussions, including, as relevant, the World Social Summit under the title Second World Summit for Social Development.

A set of studies analyses legal and procedural gaps preventing people with disabilities and representatives of ethnic minorities from getting jobs and building careers in the public sector. Key findings: One of the main barriers for Armenian- and Azerbaijani-speaking people in seeking public employment is insufficient knowledge of the Georgian language. In municipalities with a high concentration of ethnic minorities, the representation of women in the civil service is lower than the national average and does not exceed 33 percent. 1+4 internship program is an important mechanism for increasing the engagement of young people from ethnic minority groups in civil service. In the municipalities densely populated by ethnic minorities, there are certain practices for collecting data on civil servants’ ethnicity. However, this data is not consolidated at the national level in the Civil Service Bureau. The methodology used by individual municipalities is inconsistent and, in many cases, does not meet the principles of self-identification and anonymity stipulated in international standards. The employment of people with disabilities in public service is largely hindered by reasons generally considered the main barriers to employment of people with disabilities: competition in the job market and limited resources for people with disabilities, unadapted infrastructure, and stereotypes. Public service is even less accessible to people with disabilities due to high demands - in most cases, higher education is required, which is relatively rare amongpeople with disabilities. Two specific studies examine staffing and recruitment policies in the civil service. One of these researches focuses on women, people with disabilities and representatives of ethnic minorities, while the other analyses the inclusiveness and accessibility of HR.GOV.GE, the main recruitment resource of the civil service. The researches were carried out by the Civil Service Bureau in partnership with local experts and civil society organizations – the PMC Research and the Disability Research Centre (DRC) of Tbilisi State University with assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UK aid from the UK Government.

The report represents a comprehensive research of financing practices and the outlook of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Republic of Moldova. The research involves mapping the financing instruments used, identifying current barriers and success factors, and assessing current practical gaps. The study presents policy and programmatic recommendations to enhance access to finance and to identify opportunities and entry points for UNDP intervention with the purpose of filling the funding gap created by the COVID-19 crisis and nurturing sustainability and further development and growth of MSMEs.