Young workers have limited job and career prospects. The causes are many. Years of conflict and instability. A private sector that is in its infancy. Lack of economic diversification. Prolonged underinvestment. These factors affect the whole population, but young people most of all.
As calls for accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals grow louder at the halfway point towards the 2030 deadline, acknowledging the challenges of a small island developing state like Jamaica have become even more pressing.
Many Arab countries are already accelerating efforts around key transformations — from clean energy, food systems, to digitization, social protection reforms and economic diversification. We need to ramp up action around policies and investments that can drive transformative change.
Almost five million Haitians are going hungry and need food assistance, according to recent UN figures, but the violence and related insecurity created by heavily armed rival gangs operating mainly in the capital are posing more questions about how to make sure those beleaguered people get enough to eat, now and in the future.
UN Resident Coordinator Eric Overvest spoke to UN News at LDC5: the 5th UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries held in Doha, Qatar from 5-9 March 2023.