The UN SIDS Partnerships Awards ceremony was held during the 2023 Global Multi-Stakeholder Small Island Developing States Partnership Dialogue on Tuesday 11 July 2023, UNHQ in New York. This was co-chaired by the co-chairs of the Steering Committee on partnerships for SIDS, H.E. Mr. Fatumanava-o-Upolu III Pa'olelei Luteru, Permanent Representative of Samoa to the United Nations and H.E. Ms. Ana Paula Zacarias, Permanent Representative of Portugal to the United Nations. See the concept note and the programme from here.
A total of 81 applications were received. The UN Secretariat (DESA and OHRLLS) reviewed all nominations based on the SMART criteria and recommended nine finalists (three partnerships per category) to the judging panel members. The Judging panel evaluated the nine finalists based on their applications and a virtual interactive discussion held in May 2023. The Awards' rules and guidelines 2023 with details of eligibility and the selection process can be found here.
The Development of an Integrated National Financing Framework for the SDGs in Cuba, nominated by the UN Resident Coordinator Office in Cuba, was recognized for its impact in the area of Economic Development. This program was carried out by the United Nations System in Cuba, through the Subregional Headquarters in Mexico of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and included the participation of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Resident Coordinator’s Office. Its aim was to contribute to the development of an Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) as a tool for planning, defining and evaluating gender-sensitive financial policies, which is useful for improving Cuban government’s efficacy and promoting the resource mobilization needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This development is operated under the Joint Programme (JP) for the Development of an Integrated National Financing Framework for the SDGs in Cuba (CIFFRA). The JP supported Cuban institutions in identifying the country’s most pressing challenges from a systemic perspective, guiding the layered analysis of the key dimensions of action.
CIFFRA was implemented in different stages: 1): Inception stage: during this phase, the JP conducted background mapping and analysis of the financial landscape, alignment with PNDES 2023 and the 2030 Agenda, and the governance scheme. 2) Assessment and diagnostics stage: the JP assessed the opportunities, gaps, costs, risks, and systemic institutional limitations of the financing policies and ecosystem in Cuba. 3) Financing strategy stage: the INFF developed a holistic view of all available sources of financing for development after two years of extensive dialogue and co-design. 4) Monitoring and review phase: to strengthen institutional capacity for the SDGs and an integrated program-based budgeting approachIn 2022 more than 200 national experts (mainly government officials and scholars) and more than 40 international experts (from ECLAC, UNDP and RCO) participated in JP´s activities. 12 workshops and 3 training courses were organized, while 15 reports and 12 policy notes were prepared and delivered to the authorities. This resulted in a roadmap for the implementation of the Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF), levered by 24 accompanying strategic technical documents issued with clear assessments of conditions, methodologies, and recommendations for several of the critical areas of intervention. The roadmap is structured around 5 core pillars, and 16 action lines that tackle the most pressing issues for the improvement of conditions in the financing landscape of the country. Actions for each of the pillars are classified in priority levels and the need for short or mid-term implementation. The Integrated Report summarizes findings and over 100 recommendations for the INNF implementation.
Cuba has updated and reported a total of 66 SDG indicators and is strongly committed to achieve the total 166 indicators by 2025. Several other instruments provided are expected to be fully adopted by the government, including the Balance Scorecard for the integrated institutional monitoring of the implementation, the Medium-term Budgetary Framework 2023-2026, and the stock-flow macroeconomic model for financing gap costing. In addition, institutions, regulators, and decision-makers received training to promote the financial inclusion of agricultural MSMEs and other local stakeholders through innovative instruments. Note:
The Joint SDG Fund's joint programmes are under the prestige leadership of the Resident Coordinator Office and implementing United Nations Agencies. With sincere appreciation for the contributions from the European Union and Governments of Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and our private sector funding partners, for a transformative movement towards achieving the SDGs by 2030.
Originally published on SDG Partnership awards
