The United Nations Peace and Development Trust Fund provides USD $830,153 to support policy analysis and knowledge production through the HLAB

Project narrative

In 2016, the Chinese Government pledged to contribute $200 million to the United Nations over a ten year period. The United Nations Peace and Development Trust Fund (UNPDF) was established to channel these earmarked funds to specific projects in coordination with the UN. The UNPDF is divided into two sub-funds: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Sub-Fund and The Secretary-General's Peace and Security Sub-Fund. Approved in 2018 by the UNPDF, USD $830,153 was allocated from the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Sub-Fund to strengthen UNDESA’s capacity for policy analysis and knowledge production through the High-Level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs (HLAB). The HLAB, composed of 16 experts in economic and social policy, provided recommendations to guide UNDESA’s research, policy analysis, and flagship publications while strengthening links with the global research community. Key outputs included the publication "Recover Better: Economic and Social Challenges and Opportunities", which advanced ideas on issues such as international tax cooperation, equitable access to digital technologies, and sustainable resource management. Four advisory seminars were held in New York, Shenzhen, and Geneva between 2018–2019, covering topics like globalization, inequality, frontier technologies, environmental sustainability, migration, and financing for development. In addition, the Sub-forum on Frontier Technology and Sustainable Development was convened at the Boao Forum for Asia in March 2019, providing a platform for global experts to discuss the role of frontier technologies in advancing the SDGs. The project was co-implemented with UNDESA. Its scheduled duration was from April 2018 to October 2020.