UNCTAD Update: Supporting small businesses is critical for COVID-19 recovery
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UNCTAD Update (19 April - 3?May)
Our latest?news, thought leadership and events
News
This week UNCTAD focused on the impact of small businesses in driving resilience. We found that supporting small businesses is critical for COVID-19 recovery and policymakers need to adapt policies and institutions to enable small businesses to make a greater contribution to the post-pandemic economic revival. Read .?
On the shipping front, UNCTAD examined?the complex factors behind the unprecedented shortage of containers hampering the recovery of trade, and how to avoid a similar situation in the future. Explore the dynamics at play .
Listen to a podcast with UNCTAD's?Clovis Freire who unpacks our new frontier technology readiness index and what we can learn from developing countries that are "overperforming". Listen to it .
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Thought leadership and opinion
This week?UNCTAD colleagues Alessandro Nicita and Carlos Razo explored the rise of China as a trade titan. Read.
COVID-19 shows the need to close the financial inclusion gender gap, ? by UNCTAD's Miho Shirotori, Dong Wu, Bruno Antunes, and Vincent Valentine.
Upcoming events
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Call for applications - UNCTAD online course on Trade and Gender, with an optional Module on the LDCs
UNCTAD's Trade, Gender and Development Programme network is offering a?new edition of its online course from 31 May to 18 July 2021. This course will be offered in English and French.?Course participants will have the possibility to take an optional module focused on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The course with the optional module will run from 31 May to 25 July 2021.
The course targets policymakers, academics from universities and research centres, and representatives of civil society in developing and least developed countries involved in policy formulation and implementation, research, teaching, advocacy or field work in the area of trade and gender.?For more information about the online course, ?
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Side Event to the STI Forum on Capacity Building in STI for SDGs
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UNCTAD co-leads with UNESCO the IATT WS6 and, together with other WS6 members, is co-organizing a side event at the STI Forum 2021 to present the IATT WS6’s training activities and discuss plans to scale up the online training to meet the countries’ and regions’ needs.
The side event will discuss the importance of capacity building in STI policies for SDGs and will present IATT WS6’s training activities, achievements, findings from the training sessions, and plans. The event will also discuss new partnerships and views of development partners and government officials on their expectations and recommendations for the future work of IATT WS6 to expand the pilot sessions. Find out more .
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African digital entrepreneurs leading the way for COVID recovery & SDG acceleration 4 May, 8-9am?(EDT)?
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The session will contribute to the STI Forum discussions by reviewing recent digitalization trends (WTO, Briter Bridges, UNCTAD) and drill down with two case studies. The startup founders (Safeboda, Etudesk) will illustrate the findings of the research and explain how their business models promote inclusiveness. They will talk about the people benefiting and how technology is enabling marginalized communities to access decent work. UNCTAD will explain how eTrade for All contributes to streamlining the coordination of programmes supporting entrepreneurs like Safeboda and Etudesk. or visit the #STIForum2021 site:??
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This newsletter was prepared by UNCTAD New York Office of the Secretary-General
Email:?UNCTADNY2@un.org
Visit our? for more on UNCTAD’s work in monitoring the effects of the global pandemic on manufacturing, trade, foreign direct investment, and economic growth and new resources we offer to address them
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