New Support Measures Portal for LDCs

By IPS Correspondent Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 15 2012 (IPS) - The Secretariat of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), which reviews the membership of least developed countries (LDCs) every three years, last week presented a redesigned version of the Support Measures Portal for LDCs.

This interactive platform compiles information about LDC-specific international support measures provided by development partners and, as a single source of information, it allows for a better understanding of what LDC-specific measures are, who the main suppliers of the measures are and where to access these resources.

“The LDC portal should be used as a central source of information cataloguing the wide range of LDC-specific international support measures that can improve LDCs’ capacity to use the support and to prepare smooth transition strategies”, Roland Mollerus, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Development Policy and Analysis Division, said at a meeting last week.

The portal, launched during the UN Conference on LDCs in Istanbul on May 2011, and redesigned last month, aims to improve the capacity of the 48 LDCs to access and use the special international support measures adopted by the international development community.

During his presentation of the structure of the Portal, divided on three areas of assistance (Trade, Development Assistance and General Support), Mollerus stressed the importance of the spotlight category as “a way to promote feedbacks, discussions and questions” each month.

“The new version improves accessibility, ease of navigation and allow for greater interaction among users”, according to Ana Luiza Cortez, Secretary of the Committee for Development Policy Secretariat. She said they give users the possibility to participate in discussions, make comments, ask questions or highlight their own experience.

She said there is “no sense to have wonderful tool if it is not effective”., She called for “the participation of all, as a donor, a partner or a user, to provide information and make the portal more complete”.

The CDP are moving forward to create a French version of the portal, monthly newsletter, training sessions and others innovations.

The Least Developed Countries (LDCs), defined as low-income countries confronting severe structural impediments to sustainable development, comprise more than 880 million people (about 12 per cent of world population), but account for less than 2 percent of world gross domestic product (GDP) and about 1 percent of global trade in goods.

The category of LDCs was officially established in 1971 by the UN General Assembly to attract special international support for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of the UN family that are persistently falling behind due to their structural problems and vulnerabilities. The LDCs currently include 48 countries: 33 in Africa, 14 in Asia and the Pacific and one in Latin America.