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UN DESA Policy Brief No. 195: The transformative potential of expanding social protection in Pacific small island developing States
Social protection is a human right and a core part of sustainable development. It protects people against ordinary life-course risks—including sickness, disability, unemployment, old age and the costs of raising children—and provides a platform for responding to extraordinary shocks, including disasters and food, fuel and commodity-price crises. Across diverse Pacific SIDS, well-designed social protection systems can also protect nutrition, health and schooling, support human capital and productive activity, stabilize local demand, and strengthen social cohesion and trust in public institutions.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 194: Decent work in the platform economy: Governing digitally managed labour markets
Digital transformation is reshaping labour markets by changing what work is done and transforming how work is governed. Platform-mediated work is a visible example, with an estimated 154 million to 435 million people globally engaged in app-based and online labour markets worldwide. Ensuring decent work in the platform economy requires stronger labour market institutions—including clearer rules on employment status and employer responsibility, greater transparency and human oversight in automated decision-making. It also requires adapting social protection systems to fragmented and volatile work.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 193: Impact of the conflict in the Middle East on development financing
The conflict in the Middle East—the latest in a series of major shocks to the global economy—has hit developing countries the hardest, due to their greater economic and financial exposure and their more limited macroeconomic capacity to respond. International and domestic reforms can build on the Sevilla Commitment to strengthen resilience against future shocks. Central to this is a more responsive Global Financial Safety Net—one that draws more on pre-arranged instruments, backed by strengthened early warning systems and forecasting tools.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 192: Expanding footprints, growing challenges: built-up areas are outpacing population growth worldwide
This brief draws on these data to document the divergence between built-up area expansion and population growth at the global level and across country income groups, to examine trends in agricultural land that help explain what is driving rural built-up area expansion, and to set out the implications for policy.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 191: Institutionalizing foresight: integrating futures thinking into public sector planning
Strategic foresight and strategic planning work best together, creating an adaptive governance system that manages current volatility while preparing for future uncertainties, accelerating progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and shaping the post-2030 development framework. When foresight is properly embedded, organizations become more resilient, anticipate disruptions earlier, and make demonstrably better strategic choices under uncertainty.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 190: Making subsidiarity work in practice: engaging subnational authorities to advance the 2030 Agenda
Subsidiarity supports the exercise of public functions at the level of government best placed to respond effectively to people’s needs. This policy brief distills key insights from five UN CEPA strategy guidance notes to illustrate how subsidiarity can be operationalized to strengthen the engagement of subnational authorities in advancing the 2030 Agenda.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 189: Playing for the goals: advancing inclusion through the United Nations Football for the Goals Initiative
Evidence from the Football for the Goals 2024 annual reporting shows that, with supportive policies and sustained investment, football can be a cost-effective tool for advancing the 2030 Agenda, particularly by improving health, education, skills, and social inclusion for the communities and population groups most often left behind in society.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 188: Accountable and efficient public procurement in times of crisis to prevent corruption
This Policy Brief analyses the heightened risk for corruption in public procurement in emergency situations and how to promote a balance between efficiency and accountability; examines legal and institutional frame-works that enable transparent and efficient procurement during crises; and explores the role of behavioural insights in strengthening procurement systems, as well as highlights innovative digital and e-procurement approaches.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 187: Revealing the Generational Economy: An Essential System at Risk
The “generational economy” refers to the system of social institutions, economic mechanisms and intergenerational flows through which different age groups produce, consume, share and allocate resources over the life course. As the share of older persons rises, the system of mutual support between generations comes under increasing strain, including pressures of fiscal sustainability driven in part by increasing expenditures for health care at older ages. New accounting tools like National Transfer Accounts, National Time Transfer Accounts and National Inclusion Accounts can be used to reveal this generational economy.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 186: Gender Matters in an Ageing World: The Case for Gender-responsive Policies
Women constitute the majority of older persons globally, and the number of older women is projected to increase rapidly over the next decades. Although women live longer than men on average, they tend to spend a higher proportion of their later years living in poor health or with disability, often due to a higher burden of non-communicable diseases and chronic conditions. Integrating a gender perspective into health, social protection and care systems is critical to improve the quality of life of all older persons and to enable their full contributions to advancing sustainable development.