The ESCWA Annual Report 2017, published by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, reviews the Commission’s work across its 18 member States during 2017. It presents activities and results under three strategic pillars: inclusive development, regional integration, and good governance and resilience, while highlighting cross-cutting work on statistics, gender equality and partnerships.
Key insights:
ESCWA employed 356 staff members, of whom 158, or 43.3%, were women. Women held 35% of leadership positions. The United Nations House received 12,158 visitors, an increase of 18.6% from 2016 (page 6).
Poverty and inequality remained major regional concerns. The infographic on page 23 states that more than four in ten Arab households were affected by multidimensional poverty. The report also notes that only Algeria, Tunisia and the Sudan exceeded 30% female representation in the lower house of parliament, while three out of four girls aged 10–17 remained vulnerable to child marriage.
ESCWA supported practical policy reforms. Its research on the cost of violence against women contributed to regional debate, while Tunisia adopted a law in July 2017 addressing physical, moral and sexual violence against women. ESCWA also produced the first Arab Multidimensional Poverty Report with UNICEF, the League of Arab States and Oxford partners.
Work on employment and innovation included support to national technology-transfer offices in Egypt, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman and Tunisia. ESCWA also developed regional internet-governance frameworks and convened experts to examine how technology and innovation could support employment and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Environmental work focused on climate change, water and resource efficiency. ESCWA launched the Arab Climate Change Assessment Report, continued the RICCAR climate and water initiative, and supported regional monitoring of water and sanitation services. The Water–Energy Nexus toolkit was also used to help countries improve efficiency.
Conflict and financing pressures remained severe. The report estimates that more than 25 million people were forcibly displaced in the region. Its financing scorecard found that for every dollar of development finance entering the Arab region, approximately $2.9 flowed out, while 92 million jobs would need to be created for young people by 2030.
Total reported expenditure for ESCWA’s seven substantive programmes was approximately $27.42 million in 2017, including $19.92 million from the regular budget, $2.31 million from technical cooperation, $1.99 million from the Development Account and $3.20 million from extrabudgetary projects (pages 16–17).
