Improving understanding of multi-dimensional vulnerabilities for Small Island Developing States

Simona Marinescu, the Resident Coordinator in Samoa – also servicing Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau – has leveraged a network of Resident Coordinators across regions to help advance analysis of multidimensional vulnerability in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) – which is essential to enable these countries to obtain improved access to financing.  

• The call for exploring criteria beyond macroeconomic metrics to help small island developing States gain access to concessional development financing, insurance and compensation schemes has been repeated in many intergovernmental agreements capturing the needs and priorities of small island developing States – from the Barbados Programme of Action, to the Mauritius Strategy and again in the SAMOA Pathway. Several UN General Assembly resolutions also carried similar repeated calls. In 2020, with the advent of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the UN reiterated the need to advance and develop a composite multidimensional vulnerability index.
• In partnership with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and spearheaded by Ms. Marinescu, Resident Coordinators in small islands developing States, including Barbados, Cabo Verde and Fiji, developed the foundations for an innovative first-of-its kind Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI), to capture the inherent economic, social and environmental vulnerabilities of developing countries, and to contribute to redefining the international financial system and the eligibility of developing countries to concessional development financing. The index is now being finalized by a High-Level Expert Panel appointed by the President of the UN General Assembly; the final report of the Panel will be available in early 2023.
• Additionally, Ms Marinescu, together with other Resident Coordinators operating out of the multi-country offices in Fiji and the Federated States of Micronesia, has been instrumental in the design of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for the Pacific 2023–2027, which represents the third multi-country compact between the UN and the Governments of the 14 Pacific Island Countries and Territories. The Cooperation Framework is aligned to the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, and aims to change pathways towards the fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda, taking into account the structural vulnerabilities of the Pacific region and identifying key transformative actions concerning food systems, resilience to climate change, digitalization, innovative financing and gender equality. With the Prime Minister of Samoa signing the multi-country Cooperation Framework on 11 October 2022, Samoa became the first Pacific small island developing State to have adopted the framework.