Committee for Development Policy (CDP)’s input to the 2021 High-Level Political Forum

The CDP held its 23rd plenary session on February 22-26, 2021. The information below is based on the discussions held at the meeting and on the Committee’s intersessional work, notably the comprehensive study on the impact of COVID-19 on the LDC category undertaken at the request of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) (resolution E/2020/10), analysis of the 2020 voluntary national reviews and the policy note on “Development Policy and Multilateralism After COVID-19”.1 The CDP’s consolidated recommendations to ECOSOC on the annual theme – “Sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that promotes the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development: building an inclusive and effective path for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda in the context of the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development” – are contained in the report to ECOSOC on the 23rd session (CDP, 2021a, forthcoming). Excerpts of the report are reproduced here, structured around the suggested template, along with conclusions of other relevant CDP documents and ongoing research. Unless otherwise stated, the excerpts in quotations are from the report, as yet unedited.

(a) Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the implementation of the SDGs under review in the 2021 HLPF from the vantage point of your intergovernmental body, bearing in mind the interlinkages with other SDGs

Not only has the COVID-19 pandemic jeopardized the possibility of countries achieving the SDGs, but many of the gains achieved under the SDG banner are under threat. The crisis has exposed and exacerbated vulnerabilities and inequalities in both developing and developed countries, deepening poverty and exclusion and pushing the most vulnerable even further behind (CDP, 2020).

The CDP conducted, at the request of ECOSOC, a comprehensive study on the impact of COVID-19 specifically on least developed countries (LDCs) (CDP, 2021b). The study concludes that while LDCs have not been particularly hard-hit by the disease itself, the socio-economic fallout of the pandemic is expected to be severe. Among the SDGs under review in 2021, Covid-19 is reversing progress on SDGs 1, 2, 3, 8 and 10...

(b) Actions, policy guidance, progress, challenges and areas requiring urgent attention in relation to the SDGs and to the theme within the area under the purview of your intergovernmental body

In its consideration of the ECOSOC theme for this year, the CDP noted that the COVID-19 pandemic “found governments and the multilateral system unprepared to deliver on the fundamental objectives of protecting people’s lives and ensuring their economic safety, and thereby exacerbated already severe inequalities and vulnerabilities. Recovery from this unprecedented and multidimensional crisis should not aim to return to pre-crisis development patterns but to reframe the development paradigm towards equality, resilience and environmental sustainability”.

The CDP “recommends that the Council urgently take stock of the lessons learned from the shortcomings of the multilateral and regional responses to COVID-19 and, in line with the calls for an inclusive and networked multilateralism, put in motion an open and transparent process to identify and implement the changes that will ensure that the system supports equitable, sustainable and resilient development through structural transformation. In the context of the current pandemic, which threatens to stall and even reverse progress made over the past decade by developing countries, including LDCs, the Committee recommends that the Council call upon Member States and UN entities to consider the following priority areas ......

(c) An assessment of the situation regarding the principle of “ensuring that no one is left behind” at the global, regional and national levels against of background of the COVID-19 pandemic in achieving the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, within the respective area addressed by your intergovernmental bodies

The findings summarized above under item (a) on the LDCs provide an assessment of the situation on the concept of leaving no one behind at the global level. The recommendations summarized in item (b) are important components of a global response to ensure no country is left behind. The CDP observed, in its analysis of the Voluntary National Reviews (VNR) presented in 2020, that increasing attention has been given to the issue of leaving no one behind. Almost all countries refer to the concept and
most had a dedicated section, contrasting with the situation at the beginning of this first cycle of VNRs in 2016 and 2017. It is also noteworthy that some countries have reported on how they are identifying the groups most vulnerable to being left behind in their particular country contexts, through evidence-based and human rights-based approaches, which will enable them to better direct policy action. However, little has been said about the operationalization of the concept of reaching the furthest behind first and about any measures taken to avoid pushing people further behind. There has also been little connection in the VNRs between the concept of leaving no one behind and the transformative, cross-cutting policy areas that would significantly and sustainably enable social protection, generate employment, and provide resources for other areas more commonly and directly associated to leaving no one behind. There is, moreover, relatively little under “leaving no one behind” sections in the VNRs about the international dimensions of leaving no one behind....

(d) Cooperation, measures and commitments at all levels in promoting sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic

(e) Various measures and policy recommendations on building an inclusive and effective path for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda in the context of the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development