Within the Egypt UNPDF, UNDP has led the promotion and integration of the SDGs and Agenda 2030 priorities into government policies and plans. The main foundation of UNDP work within this outcome has been support to operationalize Egypt’s commitments to the SDGs and Agenda 2030, through capacity development and advisory support to identify accelerators and integrators for achieving the SDGs in Egypt, the development of a guiding framework for the National Sustainable Development Agenda 2030, as well as monitoring and reporting on achievement of the SDGs. Within these efforts, UNDP introduced the International Futures forecasting methodology, and presented the policy and quantitative evidence neces‑ sary for Egypt’s optimal delivery on the SDGs, particularly in the fields of economic growth and social and environmental outcomes. UNDP also supported the Government to develop the SDG Financing Strategy, through efforts to convene the Government and partner United Nations agencies, contributing to achieving the National Sustainable Development Agenda 2030.52 UNDP added value lies in its integrator role, working with four partner United Nations agencies to develop the financing strategy with clear contributions to costing priority SDGs. The country office is developing the Development Finance Assessment (DFA) study, a key building block for the Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF). The DFA study focuses on: a) a comprehensive review of the development finance landscape; b) mapping social protection schemes and the financing structure; and c) analysis of international/external investment and overseas development assistance pertaining to SDS goals and the SDGs, in particular social protection, including gender issues. The INFF is a first for Egypt, and will serve to complement and triangulate data, policy recommendations and partnerships of the United Nations with IFIs and the Government, notably through cross-referencing with the IMF-supported SDGs costing exercise and Medium-Term Revenue Strategy. In unison with the policy work, UNDP offered extensive institutional capacity development support to the Government of Egypt, and in particular the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MPED) and its regional offices, as well as the Ministry of Finance (MoF). The aim was to improve the technological infrastructure for regional planning and communication, monitoring, evaluation and reporting for public employees across 24 ministries and 27 governorates. The evaluation of this support found that it had helped the institutions to enhance their awareness, knowledge, skills and tools to track progress achieved against national projects related to the SDS, the SDGs, the Global Competitiveness Index, and Africa 2063.53 Interviews with national counterparts and other United Nations agencies corroborated this finding, noting that UNDP support in this area was relevant. UNDP also assisted MPED to prepare the 2018 Voluntary National Review (VNR). At the time of this eval‑ uation, UNDP technical contributions to the development of the 2021 VNR were underway, along with technical inputs for assessment of the impact of COVID-19 and the stimulus package on the Egyptian economy and the SDGs, within a wider review of progress on the SDGs. The COVID-19 impact study aimed to provide policy advice and recommendations to MPED on the measures needed to support the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector to mitigate and survive the COVID-19 crisis.54 This study indi‑ cated that over 90 percent of the sample had been adversely affected by the pandemic and containment measures, while 30 percent had experienced dwindling cash flows with only enough reserves for another month. The enterprises surveyed indicated that they had laid off 17 percent of their workers on average, and another 3.9 percent of workers were expected to face dismissal. Stakeholder interviews noted that the
52 53 54
Partner agencies were: ILO, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNDP, UNICEF and UN Women). UNDP 2018 data. The study was conducted in partnership with MSMEDA, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics and the African Development Bank, and included a national survey of MSMEs, which sampled 1,951 MSMEs to assess the impact of COVID-19 on businesses and their response to the stimulus packages launched by the Government.
Chapter 2. findings
20
