Boosting access to expertise and resources for Cabo Verde in trade, e-commerce, innovative financing and digital strategies

*This Resident Coordinator performed functions in Cabo Verde from 2018 to 2022

In Cabo Verde, Resident Coordinator Ana Patricia Graça has innovated the design process of the UN’s new programme for sustainable development, the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2023-2027).

With a view to help ensure that the UN has the most relevant capacities in place to support national priorities, the Resident Coordinator led outreach over a two-year period to engage key UN entities who were not yet full members of the UN country team but had essential expertise on trade, e-commerce, innovative financing and digital strategies.

In 2021, the Resident Coordinator secured the participation of the UN country team in Cabo Verde at a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Leadership Lab, supported by the Presencing Institute, a leading action research platform for social and organizational change. Subsequent support by the economist in the Resident Coordinator’s office enabled the application of foresight methodologies for an exercise to envision Cabo Verde in 2030. Led by the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister and the Resident Coordinator, the exercise involved other key government entities, international financial institutions, private sector and civil society organizations, and resulted in a collective visioning of the different pathways to get to where the country wants to be.

As a result:

• A partnership with civil society and representatives of the most vulnerable groups in the country was established to assess ‘who’ and ‘why’ are the ones furthest behind in country, for targeted interventions included in the Cooperation Framework;
• The UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the UN Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), will join the UN Team in Cabo Verde;
• New financing is coming through for infrastructure because of the engagement of private sector entities and international financial institutions, such as, the World Bank, the Africa Development Bank and other European banks; notably, the World Bank will sign the new Cooperation Framework.
• The budget for the Cooperation Framework is $115 million, a $20 million increase from the previous programme cycle, which will also support the implementation of joint flagship UN programmes for health, poverty eradication and leaving no-one behind, and localizing the SDGs.