Nabilah Safira
TechInPacific –
Finance
Debts are on the rise in the SIDS (Small Island Developing States) region. The current pandemic demands need in many socio-economic sectors, which force SIDS to borrow accordingly. To face this situation means to understand the underlying factors that give rise to the liquidity morphed solvency crisis that results from the heavy borrowing.
Restructuring of finance and debt is, therefore, a complementary take on approaching the crisis, but that is not all. According to UNDP, there should be a level of vulnerability index that addresses the environmental, accounting, and economic challenges for SIDS.
With the 2030 Agenda and SAMOA Pathway in mind, UNDP hopes to offer support to SIDS in overcoming their tribulations and to safe landing for the two agendas.
Digital Solutions
In times of difficulties, the presence of a platform that could communicate the community’s needs while bridging them with the parties that grant and execute the actionable plans is a great help.
Na Nô Mon (in your hands in creole language) is an online platform that UNDP launched in Guinea-Bissau to help the community connect with figures that support local development. The platform allows both communities and development figures to share their practical insights and ideas regarding challenges in the country, and lastly, solutions exchange will end up as actionable steps.
Another initiative comes from Fiji’s Access Justice Project that protects women’s welfare by setting online counseling and helpline to help them recover from the impact of the COVID-19 as well as giving general psychological support.
Funded by the European Union and with UNDP support, Fijians are given mobile smartphones and tablet computers to do virtual counseling. It is intended for the disabled community and the vulnerable demography as a whole, who specifically struggles during the pandemic.
Data Accessibility
UNDP and SPC have partnered to improve data accessibility and quality in the pacific region. This is the key to the development of evidence-based policies and programs, while aligned with the interest of the SAMOA Pathway, Sendai Framework, and SAMOA Pathway.s
SPC (South Pacific Community) signed the MoU with UNDP in Fiji, with plans of partnership starting from Accelerator Lab and Pacific Data Hub (PDH) of SPC.
In the future, the partnership will see areas of improvement in the government, food security, private sector collaboration, and inclusive growth. UNDP will also improve their data integration and visibility into PDH’s dataset resources.
