United Nations Development Programme

BACKGROUND GUIDE

Vancouver Model United Nations The Nineteenth Annual Session | February 14–16, 2020

Dear Delegates,

My name is Emily Ni, and it is my utmost pleasure to welcome you to the United Nations Development Programme at Vancouver Model United Nations 2020.

Four years ago, I entered the esoteric world of Model UN with the intent of seeking academic enrichment. Fifteen conferences later, I can confidently say that the impact that Model UN has had on my character extends far beyond any academic benefit. MUN has allowed me to seek new horizons; to debate, negotiate, and explore a world like no other. Now, I can only hope to instill the same passion in you, the delegate, as my directors did for me. Cherish the memories you make as a delegate, and channel your learning into becoming the leaders of our generation.

Representing the rest of your dais team, Kristy Kwok will be serving as your Chair, and Leo Wang as your Assistant Director. Kristy is a senior at Richmond Christian School; this is her sixth Model UN conference, and when not participating in MUN she enjoys reading and creative writing. Leo is a senior at University Hill Secondary School, and he is excited to meet you all.

VMUN prides itself on its high level of educational discourse and professionalism. In the United Nations Development Programme, delegates should come prepared with a comprehensive understanding of their committee’s mandate, the topic at hand, and their country’s foreign policy. These topics require thorough research and knowledge to allow for constructive debate; your work as a delegate will not only benefit yourself, but the committee as a whole.

The entire dais team welcomes you to the United Nations Development Programme at VMUN 2020. Please do not hesitate to contact any of us at undp@vmun.com if you have any questions or concerns; I look forward to a weekend of rewarding debate.

Yours sincerely,

Emily Ni UNDP Director

Steven Long Co-Secretary-General

Alex Shojania Co-Secretary-General

Jessica Lin Chief of Staff

Albert Chen Director-General

Jamin Feng USG General Assemblies

Ronald Wu USG Specialized Agencies

Carol Lu USG Conference

Christopher Bong USG Finance

William Tsai USG Delegate Affairs

Vivian Gu USG Delegate Affairs

Christina Su USG Design & Media

Position Paper Policy

What is a Position Paper?

A position paper is a brief overview of a country’s stance on the topics being discussed by a particular committee. Though there is no specific format the position paper must follow, it should include a description of your positions your country holds on the issues on the agenda, relevant actions that your country has taken, and potential solutions that your country would support.

At Vancouver Model United Nations, delegates should write a position paper for each of the committee’s topics. Each position paper should not exceed one page, and should all be combined into a single document per delegate.

For the United Nations Development Programme, position papers are not mandatory but highly recommended, and required for a delegate to be considered for an award.

Formatting

Position papers should:

— Include the name of the delegate, his/her country, and the committee

— Be in a standard font (e.g. Times New Roman) with a 12-point font size and 1-inch document margins

— Not include illustrations, diagrams, decorations, national symbols, watermarks, or page borders

— Include citations and a bibliography, in any format, giving due credit to the sources used in research (not included in the 1-page limit)

Due Dates and Submission Procedure

Position papers for this committee must be submitted by midnight on February 7th, 2020. Once your position paper is complete, please save the file as your last name, your first name and send it as an attachment in an email, to your committee’s email address, with the subject heading as your last name, your first name — Position Paper.

Please do not add any other attachments to the email or write anything else in the body.

Both your position papers should be combined into a single PDF or Word document file; position papers submitted in another format will not be accepted.

Each position paper will be manually reviewed and considered for the Best Position Paper award.

The email address for this committee is undp@vmun.com.

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Gender-Based Poverty ................................................................................................................... 3

Overview .................................................................................................................................................. 3

Timeline ................................................................................................................................................... 3

Historical Analysis ................................................................................................................................. 5

Past UN/International Involvement .................................................................................................... 6

Millenium Development Goals ........................................................................................................................6

Sustainable Development Goals ......................................................................................................................7

United Nations Joint Programme on Accelerating Progress Towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women (JP RWEE) ................................................................................................................................8

Case Study: JP RWEE in Ethiopia ...................................................................................................................8

Case Study: JP RWEE in Nepal ........................................................................................................................9

Current Situation ................................................................................................................................. 10

Legislative Barriers to Work .......................................................................................................................... 10

Building Credit ................................................................................................................................................ 10

Getting a Job .................................................................................................................................................... 11

Providing Incentives to Work ....................................................................................................................... 12

Vulnerability to Violence ............................................................................................................................... 12

Possible Solutions and Controversies ................................................................................................ 13

Microfinancing and Supplemental Projects ................................................................................................ 13

Legislation and Social Services ...................................................................................................................... 14

Education ......................................................................................................................................................... 15

Bloc Positions ....................................................................................................................................... 16

Western Liberal Democracies ....................................................................................................................... 16

African Nations ............................................................................................................................................... 17

Nordic Nations ................................................................................................................................................ 17

United States of America ............................................................................................................................... 17

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) ...................................................................................................... 18

Discussion Questions ........................................................................................................................... 18

Additional Resources ........................................................................................................................... 19

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Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 20

Infrastructure Development in Least Developed Countries ..................................................... 24

Overview ................................................................................................................................................ 24

Timeline ................................................................................................................................................. 25

Historical Analysis ............................................................................................................................... 26

Past UN/International Involvement .................................................................................................. 28

Current Situation ................................................................................................................................. 29

Infrastructure Financing Mechanisms ......................................................................................................... 29

China and the Belt and Road Initiative ........................................................................................................ 30

Alternative Development Strategies ............................................................................................................. 31

Possible Solutions and Controversies ................................................................................................ 31

Increased Infrastructure Funding ................................................................................................................. 31

Technical Capacity-Building ......................................................................................................................... 32

Regional Integration ....................................................................................................................................... 32

Natural Disasters ............................................................................................................................................. 32

Corruption ....................................................................................................................................................... 32

Bloc Positions ....................................................................................................................................... 33

Least Developed Countries ............................................................................................................................ 33

OECD Members ............................................................................................................................................. 33

Non-OECD Financers .................................................................................................................................... 33

Developing Countries .................................................................................................................................... 33

Discussion Questions ........................................................................................................................... 34

Additional Resources ........................................................................................................................... 34

Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 35

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Gender-Based Poverty

Overview

In a rapidly developing world, the role of women as catalysts in poverty alleviation and economic growth is crucial now more than ever. Gender-based poverty—a phenomenon often referred to as the feminization of poverty—is a critical issue that impacts not only the liberties and rights of women worldwide, but the economic growth of developing nations. The UNDP boasts a staggering 17 core goals—known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—that encapsulate the intersectional nature of gender-based poverty alleviation. Among the SDGs are targets such as poverty alleviation, economic growth, and gender equity; put together, these issues collectively constitute gender-based poverty. As stated under their Six Signature Solutions, the UNDP “has the ability and responsibility to integrate gender equality into every aspect of [their] work.”1 To truly resolve the feminization of poverty, solutions must address the multitude of factors that contribute to this critical issue.

Despite a now widely-held perspective that the economic empowerment of women is beneficial to the economy and development, various barriers remain as steadfast as ever in the pursuit of alleviating gender-based poverty. The most prominent is the social narrative surrounding traditional female roles in the household. Women are far more likely to undertake unpaid work, whereas men are typically expected to earn a formal income for the household.2 Often, this unpaid work is domestic which, in turn, gains little social recognition for women. Due to the many hours allocated to unpaid household work, women’s ability to seek paid labour is extremely limited. Stronger social narratives against female autonomy and formal employment are also prevalent in countries that rank poorly on the Gender Development Index (GDI) (e.g Niger, Yemen, Afghanistan), given that these constraints on women are more tangible than those seen in higher-ranking nations.

Thus, the empowerment of women is directly related to the alleviation of poverty. In the 1997 Human Development Report, a direct correlation between lower GDI and higher levels of human poverty existed across most countries.3 Intuitively, when women are able to enter the workforce or engage in other forms of paid work, the economy directly benefits from the output of these activities. Unfortunately, this is not as simple as the concept might suggest. The incorporation of gender-specific poverty alleviation strategies has been an uphill battle. Due to traditional cultural limitations, social norms, and limited political will, incorporating pieces of legislation or projects directly aimed at raising women out of poverty has resulted in varying degrees of success.

Timeline

December 10, 1948 — The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights is adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris. It is the first document to enshrine universal human rights internationally.

1 “Six Signature Solutions,” United Nations Development Programme, https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/six-signature-solutions.html. 2 Government of Canada, Statistics Canada, “Time Use: Total Work Burden, Unpaid Work, and Leisure,” July 30, 2018, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/54931-eng.htm. 3 “Human Development Report 1997 | Human Development Reports,” http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-report-1997.

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Specifically, Article 23 outlines the rights of individuals to equal pay for equal work, as well as protection against unemployment.4

June 19 – July 2, 1975 — The inaugural World Conference on Women takes place in Mexico City. The International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women and the United Nations Development Fund for Women are established as a result.5

July 14–30, 1980 — The Second World Conference on Women takes place in Copenhagen. This iteration identifies three areas for improvement in gender equality: education, employment opportunities, and health care services.6

September 3, 1981 — Adopted in December 1979 as part of the General Assembly’s Resolution 34/180, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women enters into force on September 3, 1981 as the first legally binding instrument combatting gender-based discrimination on the global scale.7

June 15–26, 1985 — The Third World Conference on Women takes place in Nairobi, and revealed the shortcomings of the past Conferences; improvements observed had extremely limited benefits. The Nairobi Conference focussed on intersectionality—the inability for the Second Conference to achieve gender equality in isolated spheres led to the conclusion that female participation in all spheres was necessary for greater gender parity.8

September 4 – 15, 1995 — The Fourth World Conference on Women results in the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action by 189 countries. The Declaration outlined 12 areas of critical concern. The areas directly related to gender-based poverty alleviation were women and poverty, the education and training of women, and women and the economy.9

2000 — The United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) is launched by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Dakar, Senegal. The UNGEI partners with organizations at the regional, national, and global levels to promote gender equality in education.10

4 “Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” October 6, 2015, https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/. 5 “United Nations: Key Conference Outcomes in Gender and Equality,” https://www.un.org/en/development/devagenda/gender.shtml. 6 Ibid. 7 “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women - Main Page,” https://legal.un.org/avl/ha/cedaw/cedaw.html. 8 Ibid. 9 “The Beijing 12 Critical Areas of Concern Deconstructed,” UN Women, https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/csw59/feature-stories. 10 “UNGEI AT 10: A Journey to Gender Equality in Education,” UNICEF, https://www.unicef.org/publications/index_53720.html.

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September 2000 — Adopted as a part of the United Nations Millennium Declaration, member-states commit to eight goals to achieve within 15 years.11 These Millenium Development Goals are later found to be the most successful anti-poverty movement in history.12

October 15, 2012 — The Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme is launched as a joint collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agriculture Development, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), and United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). The Programme acts as a tool to reduce female poverty in rural areas within Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Nepal, Niger and Rwanda.13

September 2015 — The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are adopted by all United Nations member-states as a shared blueprint for global development until 2030. Among its goals are the elimination of poverty, gender equality, and inclusive and sustainable economic development.14

Historical Analysis

The issue of gender-based poverty, though rooted in the same causes globally, is compounded by traditional social structures that exist regionally. There have been structural differences between the root causes of gender-based poverty in developing and developed nations that are crucial to consider. For example, women in developing countries often face far harsher legislative restrictions than women in developed nations do, though legislative bias in all countries stems from long-standing cultural narratives regarding women. When assessing gender-based poverty alleviation, there is no “one size fits all” solution; delegates must address specific inciting factors behind poverty in their nations. Thus, the historical analysis outlined below may not reflect the diverse array of inciting factors behind gender-based poverty in every delegate's country. As delegates research their specific countries’ histories with the topic, it is crucial to note the origins of gender-based poverty; often, factors like gender-based violence, religious narratives, and societal norms directly influence poverty.

The use of the term “feminization of poverty” to refer to disproportionately elevated rates of female poverty was first coined by Diana Pearce in the 1970s, based on observations made on income poverty in female-headed households in the United States.15 In a modern context, the term has been co-opted to include three concepts: first, women face higher rates of poverty than men; second, the rates of poverty between men and women are widening over time; and third, this increase of female poverty—in the context of Western nations in which this trend was observed—is directly correlated to an increase in the number of female-headed households.16 High rates of poverty among female-headed households—at the time, the fastest growing family structure—mirrored a vastly growing amount of women and children that found themselves impoverished. In less than 10 years, it

11 “Millennium Development Goals,” UNDP, https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sdgoverview/mdg_goals.html. 12 “The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015,” UNDP, https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/mdg/the-millennium-development-goals-report-2015.html. 13 “Trust Fund Factsheet - Rural Women Economic Empowerment,” http://mptf.undp.org/factsheet/fund/RWF00. 14 “SDGs, Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform,” https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs. 15 Sylvia Chant, “Feminization of Poverty,” February 29, 2012, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9780470670590.wbeog202. 16 Ibid.

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was widely accepted that nearly half of all those living in poverty in the US were from households headed by women.17 Despite historical structural determinants of poverty comprising of class and race, gender had only recently been introduced as a prominent factor in the 1970s given the recent increase of women in the workforce and as heads of households. Compared to men, for which employment was often an effective remedy for poverty, women were vulnerable to poverty even when employed—divorce and widowhood were often inciting factors in increasing female poverty. The US saw increasing rates of female poverty from the 1970s to the 2000s.18 This trend revealed several key factors in creating high rates of gendered poverty.

A prominent factor in the United States is the high positive correlation between motherhood and poverty: 43 percent of children living in poverty in the United States live in a single-mother household.19 Particularly for young and poor women of colour, the intergenerational transfer of poverty from one young mother to the next is caused by disturbances in education and labour market participation due to motherhood. For these women, the tradeoff between caring for a child or finishing higher education often falls to the former. As such, they are unable to access higher-paying jobs with better benefits to support the household. Additionally, structural barriers, like a lack of affordable childcare, impact a mother’s ability to work, which decreases her economic autonomy and ability to earn a sufficient income. Moreover, the United States remains the only developed country in the world to not offer workers paid maternity leave.20 Instead, the Family and Medical Leave Act provides 12 weeks of unpaid leave for workers. Signed into law 25 years ago by President Bill Clinton, this act has remained the only piece of legislation in the United States concerning maternity leave.21

The introduction of the term "feminization of poverty" ushered in new discussion surrounding gender-based poverty alleviation; however, motherhood still poses an issue in economic autonomy in the present. A lack of structural reforms in childcare and maternity pose as significant barriers to women attempting to engage in the labour force. As such, these historical issues remain relevant to gender-based poverty alleviation to the present day.

Past UN/International Involvement

Millenium Development Goals In September 2000, 189 member-states of the United Nations collectively established eight goals—the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—that aimed to combat the world’s most pressing issues.22 These goals became a blueprint for global development until 2015. Among them was Goal Three: to empower women and promote gender equality, as well as Goal One: to eliminate extreme poverty and hunger. Through a

17 Valentine M. Moghadam, “THE ‘FEMINIZATION OF POVERTY’ AND WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS,” Gender Equality and Development Section, Division of Human Rights Social and Human Sciences Sector, UNESCO, July 2005, http://www.cpahq.org/cpahq/cpadocs/Feminization_of_Poverty.pdf. 18 Ibid. 19 “Children in Poverty,” Child Trends, https://www.childtrends.org/indicators/children-in-poverty. 20 “OECD Family Database - OECD,” http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm. 21 Christopher Ingraham, “The World’s Richest Countries Guarantee Mothers More than a Year of Paid Maternity Leave. The U.S. Guarantees Them Nothing,” Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/02/05/the-worlds-richest-countries-guarantee-mothers-more-than-a-year-of-paid-maternity-leave-the-u-s-guarantees-them-nothing/. 22 “United Nations Millennium Development Goals,” https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/.

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combination of internal governmental programs as well as transnational and non-governmental partnerships, efforts to achieve the MDGs were widely considered successes in the field of education and poverty reduction; however, reactions to the MDGs’ impacts on female empowerment were mixed. Despite lifting 471 million individuals out of poverty and increasing primary education completion rates by 111 million, some perceived the MDGs as unable to take a comprehensive approach to addressing gender inequality. The content of the MDGs disregarded important acknowledgements made for gender-based violence and human rights previously covered in the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing five years prior.23 Critics also took issue with the lack of political will and financial resources allocated to meeting targets for gender equality compared to that of other targets. In contrast, many also argued that the benefits of education and poverty reduction improved women’s empowerment regardless of its shortcomings, particularly in alleviating gender-based poverty. Political engagement also improved tremendously, with the average proportion of women in parliament nearly doubling during the time in which the MDGs took effect. Nevertheless, the MDGs had astounding results in alleviating poverty, regardless of its specific impact on gender-based poverty alleviation.24

Sustainable Development Goals The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by all member-states in September 2015, acts as a follow-up campaign to the MDGs acted upon 15 years prior.25 Though relatively new, having come into effect only five years ago, the SDGs outline three goals that aim to achieve renewed success in resolving gender-based poverty. Among the SDGs’ 17 goals, three address gender-based poverty alleviation specifically: Goal One (No Poverty), Goal Five (Gender Equality), and Goal Eight (Decent Work and Economic Growth).26 Given the recent nature of the SDGs’ implementation, their efforts and impacts have been less thoroughly documented than the MDGs. According to the 2019 Sustainable Development Goals Progress Chart, efforts towards Goal One’s aim to eradicate extreme poverty resulted in “moderate poverty” on the global scale, denoting that there has been “fair progress but acceleration is needed.”27 Likewise, a key effort in Goal Five, “ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for managerial positions,” has seen “poor participation,” denoting “limited or no progress” worldwide.28 Goal Eight’s efforts to “achieve full and productive employment for all” have seen a “moderate unemployment rate,” denoting that there has been “fair progress but acceleration is needed.”29 Worldwide, poverty alleviation campaigns undertaken directly through UN organs or in partnership with governments and transnational organizations have been critical in achieving the SDGs. Thus far, whether the impacts of the SDGs have been beneficial remains unclear, and at times trends have shown slow to minimal progress. Now, it remains in the hands of member-states to determine future progress.

23 Ibid. 24 Liz Ford, “Have the Millennium Development Goals Empowered Women? | Liz Ford,” The Guardian, March 26, 2015, sec. Global development, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/mar/26/millennium-development-goals-empowered-women-mdgs-gender-parity. 25 “#Envision2030: 17 Goals to Transform the World for Persons with Disabilities | United Nations Enable,” https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/envision2030.html. 26 Ibid. 27 United Nations, The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2019, New York: United Nations, 2019, https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019. 28 Ibid. 29 Ibid.

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United Nations Joint Programme on Accelerating Progress Towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women (JP RWEE) The United Nations Joint Programme on Accelerating Progress Towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women is an organizational partnership undertaken by the FAO, the WFP, the International Fund for Development, and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). Though undertaken by transnational organizations, it is funded generously in part by the governments of Norway and Sweden.30 The JP RWEE’s implementation is best analyzed in its application in pilot countries—Guatemala, Rwanda, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Niger and Liberia—through its utilization of government-facilitated programs operating on the individual, communal, and national level. It provides training in business management and entrepreneurship, as well as access to technologies that aid women in everyday work. The programmes also have a heavy focus on promoting gender-sensitive policies and educating rural communities about the barriers to gender equity through community discussions and workshops.

Case Study: JP RWEE in Ethiopia Gender-based economic disparities in Ethiopia are particularly clear when examining participation in the agricultural sector. While approximately 75% of farm labour and 70% of household food production in Ethiopia is undertaken by women, they only represent 18.7% of land owners and head 20.1% of households.31

Ethiopian participation in the JP RWEE has been ongoing since October of 2014, in collaboration with the Gender Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and National Resources. The program is heavily centred around eliminating rural Ethiopian poverty through agrarian-centred strategies, and it aims to provide training programs for managing household food reserves as well as introducing innovative post-harvest technologies. The joint programme also provides revolving funding for credit loaning for women as well as education in financial literacy and entrepreneurship.32

The Ethiopian program is structured around reaching its four intersectional outcomes:

“Outcome 1 — Rural women improve their food security and nutrition.

Outcome 2 — Rural women increase their incomes to sustain their livelihoods

Outcome 3 — Rural women strengthen their voice in decisions that affect their lives.

Outcome 4 — Gender responsive policy and institutional environment for women's economic empowerment.”33

30 “The JP RWEE Pathway to Women’s Empowerment,” IFAD, https://www.ifad.org/en/web/knowledge/publication/asset/39258088. 31 “Ethiopia: Joint Programme on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment – Rural Women Economic Empowerment Component,” Sustainable Development Goals Fund, September 16, 2019, https://www.sdgfund.org/case-study/ethiopia-joint-programme-gender-equality-and-women-empowerment-%E2%80%93-rural-women-economic. 32 Azzurra Chiarini, “Enhancing Opportunities for Rural Women’s Employment and Poverty Reduction,” Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA , May 8, 2017, https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2017/04/Azzurra-CHIARINI-EGM-Strategies-for-Eradicating-Poverty-Chiarini_ok.pdf. 33 “Project Factsheet - RWEE Ethiopia,” http://mptf.undp.org/factsheet/project/00092000.

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The JP RWEE originally aimed to reach 2,000 women in the regions of Oromiya and Afar, and indirectly affect 12,000 household members, as well as 14,000 community members; however, the programme has recently increased their target to encompass 3,500 rural women. As of June 2019, progress on all four goals has been largely positive. 82% of rural women involved in the JP RWEE increased their wheat production by 100%, maize production by 125%, and teff production by 83%.34 2,958 rural women have managed to diversify and stabilize their sources of income, fulfilling the JP RWEE’s second goal.35 Community Conversations (CC) were highly successful interventions through which women’s voices could be heard. As a result of these CCs, 1,335 women were able to jointly decide spousal division of assets (e.g sale of cattle, rental of land, etc.).36 The implementation of a JP RWEE in Ethiopia has yielded a significant increase in the ability for rural women to gain a sustainable, diversified source of income.

Case Study: JP RWEE in Nepal Preparation for the implementation of the JP RWEE in Nepal began in October 2014, with the full launch beginning in October 2015.37 In the context of a post-conflict setting like Nepal, the goal of the programme is to ensure sustainable development as well as secure rights and stable sources of income for rural women. The programme provides materials and technical support for vegetable production, both used for commercial sale and personal consumption. In addition to technical support, the Nepalese JP RWEE works to combat social barriers to female empowerment, and uses workshops and discussions to promote awareness surrounding gender equity.38

The Nepalese program is structured around reaching its four intersectional outcomes:

“Outcome 1 — Rural Nepalese women and their families have improved food and nutrition security

Outcome 2 — Rural women have increased income to secure their livelihoods

Outcome 3 — Rural women’s representation and leadership is strengthened in local communities for gender responsive governance

Outcome 4 — A gender responsive policy environment is secured for the economic empowerment of Nepalese rural women.”39

The JP RWEE has allowed 2,333 female rural farmers to gain greater access to food and nutrition security since the implementation of the programme as of June 2019.40 Indirectly, the programme reached an estimated 10,031 household members as well. Fulfilling Outcome One, household vegetable production has increased on average

34 Etagegnehu, Getachew, “Ethiopia-JP RWEE Annual Report,” Accelerating Progress Toward Economic Empowerment of Rural Women in Ethiopia, UN Women, n.d. 35 Ibid. 36 Ibid. 37 “Project Factsheet - RWEE Nepal,” http://mptf.undp.org/factsheet/project/00092004. 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid. 40 Mio Yokota, “NEPAL JP RWEE Bi-Annual Report 2019,” Accelerating Progress Toward Economic Empowerment of Rural Women in Nepal, UN Women, n.d.

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by 153%, rising from 234 kg at the start of the program to 591 kg in June of 2019.41 The Nepalese JP RWEE does not feature a heavy emphasis on commercial production; as such, 1,805, or 77%, of women participating in the programme earned a combined USD 176,597 through the supported sale of vegetables through the JP RWEE.42 Though the income increase may be slightly smaller compared to that of other countries, Nepalese implementation shows the nuanced incentives households may have in deciding how to use the support of the JP RWEE. Pertinent to gender-based poverty, 305 rural men and women participated in workshops and group discussions to which they reported positive behavioural changes for gender-based empowerment.43 Finally, progress towards Outcome Four was achieved through three-day long workshops detailing the implementation of gender-responsive budgeting in community planning processes, as well as discussions surrounding the concepts of gender equality and social inclusion.44

As demonstrated by these two case studies, while a single programme can be implemented in various regions, the specifics of these programmes have to be adapted to the political, cultural, and environmental conditions of the country in question. The degree to which certain aspects of the programme will vary amongst participating countries, which is why all UN action taken needs to be easily adaptable.

Current Situation

Legislative Barriers to Work All around the world, legislative barriers to gender equity in the workforce restrict women in achieving their full potential in labour force participation. The World Bank Group project Women, Business, and the Law compiles data on gender inequality in the law. 45 They identified seven categories in which governments may place legislative barriers to female labour force participation, intentionally or not. Out of these seven, three are specifically applicable to gender-based poverty alleviation: building credit, getting a job, and providing incentives to work.46

Building Credit Good credit is critical in starting and growing businesses, mortgages, auto loans, and achieving economic stability. The ability to access credit is greatly hindered by discrimination and limited credit history. In India, for example, access to credit is often impacted by marital status and gender. Single women are often turned away from financial institutions when applying for mortgages without male co-applicants; however, single men are not. This arises from a societal belief that compared to their male counterparts, single women are generally

41 Ibid. 42 Ibid. 43 Ibid. 44 Ibid. 45 “Women, Business and the Law - Gender Equality, Women Economic Empowerment - World Bank Group,” World Bank, https://wbl.worldbank.org/. 46 “Legal Inequalities Prevent Women from Working,” Council on Foriegn Relations, https://www.cfr.org/interactive/legal-barriers/barriers.

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unable to access high-paying employment and, consequently, are prone to defaulting on loans.47 According to the World Bank, discrimation on the basis of gender when accessing credit is legal in 117 countries.48 The United States outlawed discrimination from creditors on the basis of race, colour, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, and age in 1974, which has resulted in more women accessing credit.49 A lack of legislation protecting female access to credit has resulted in massive economic inequality, given that a large portion of the population is unable to start and grow businesses or own homes.

Getting a Job Access to employment is, intuitively, one of the most effective tools for economic empowerment. However, in 113 countries, there is a lack of legislation to protect equal compensation for equal work.50 Coupled with social stigma surrounding female empowerment, women are not guaranteed equal income compared to their male counterparts. Irrespective of equal pay, women are often unable to access certain industries and jobs due to restrictive legislation that prohibits them from working in dangerous or physically strenuous occupations. Legislative restrictions on the types of occupations that women can enter exist in 104 countries around the world.51 Interestingly, labour productivity could rise by 25 percent in these countries with the elimination of legal barriers to certain sectors of work.52 These “dangerous” sectors include mining, truck and train driving, woodworking, captaining ships, and working as a mechanic.53 Perhaps the most concerning factor in access to employment is debilitating gender-based discrimination in the workplace. In 41 countries, it is legal to discriminate against someone based on their gender.54 Discrimination can take on many forms. During hiring, qualified women are passed over based on deeply entrenched societal stereotypes. Moreover, they are held to a much higher standard to compensate for undesirable maternity leaves and a perceived commitment to family. In the workplace itself, harassment and sexual advances are normalized behaviours that subject women to unsafe working conditions both physically and psychologically. An estimated 235 million women worldwide lack legal protection from sexual harassment in the workplace.55 This puts women in a moral dilemma between sustaining a livelihood for themselves in an unsafe environment, or exiting that unsafe environment and being without work. Unfortunately, though the International Labour Organization (ILO) has been considering the creation of an internationally binding convention on gender-based violence in the workplace, no such instrument exists.56 Finally, women face large barriers in accessing work due to the negative perception of pregnancy from employers.

47 Anita Bhoir, “Single Women Face Discrimination When Applying for Home Loans,” The Economic Times, June 11, 2014, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/borrow/single-women-face-discrimination-when-applying-for-homeloans/articleshow/36365494.cms. 48 Ibid. 49 The Equal Credit Opportunity Act,” August 6, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/crt/equal-credit-opportunity-act-3. 50 “Many Laws Make It Difficult for Women to Get Jobs,” Council on Foriegn Relations, https://www.cfr.org/interactive/legal-barriers/barriers/getting_a_job. 51 Ibid. 52 Ibid. 53 Meghan Werft, “These 7 Sexist Laws Prevent Women From ‘Dangerous’ Jobs”, Global Citizen, April 3, 2017, https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/7-sexist-laws-prevent-women-dangerousjobs/. 54 Ibid. 55 “Nearly 235 Million Women Worldwide Lack Legal Protections From Sexual Harassment at Work,” https://www.socialworktoday.com/news/dn_111317.shtml. 56 “Gender-Based Violence in the Workplace,” Human Rights Watch, https://www.hrw.org/tag/gender-based-violence-workplace.

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The dismissal of pregnant workers is not legally prohibited in 37 countries, leaving women at risk for sudden dismissal or, even worse, leading them to undertake unsafe abortions.57 There are huge areas for improvement in legislating access to work, and international cooperation in creating instruments and conventions has been notably lacking in this area.

Providing Incentives to Work Even when women are able to participate in the workforce, there are structural barriers that cause staggeringly low levels of retention compared to men in the labour force. Thus, providing incentives to stay in the workforce even when raising a family is critical to ensure equal female participation. Women are often passed over for promotions in fear that they will be unable to balance strenuous workloads with family life or that they will take too much time away from work while pregnant or raising children. This causes them to feel as if they are being pushed out of their jobs, often forcing them to leave their employment entirely. Alternatively, women often choose to leave their jobs after having children—either because they are forced to due to a lack of affordable childcare and no available caretakers or because they opt out to take care of their children. Finding accessible childcare in order for women to continue labour force participation is a daily challenge; 54 countries do not provide government-run childcare services for women.58 In countries within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), having accessible public childcare for children under the age of five has been correlated with higher rates of employment for new mothers.59 Unfortunately, this tradeoff does not exist in many countries with restrictive norms around child rearing, and many women are forced to exit the labour force to take care of their children. The perception of women as natural caretakers of the home in the vast majority of countries across the globe results in a huge disparity in workforce retention as well as a disproportionate tendency to take part-time employment.60 Unfortunately, these women face large economic impacts for doing so; taking one year off work will result in the loss of 20% of their lifetime earnings, two years off work will result in a 30% loss, and three years will result in a 37% loss of income.61 Even when trying to re-enter the workforce, women are unable to access the same positions they held beforehand. The provision of an equivalent position for mothers after maternity leave is not legally guaranteed in 75 countries.62 Thus, not only is providing paid maternity leave key, but ensuring that these women have stable jobs to return to is crucial to retention as well.

Vulnerability to Violence The relationship between poverty and gender-based violence is a dangerous cycle of causality. Often, economically disadvantaged women are susceptible to violence, and those faced with violence are susceptible to poverty. Poverty is a dangerous causal factor in violence against women: it enables abuse due to the lack of

57 Ibid. 58 Ibid. 59 “BALANCING WORK AND FAMILY LIFE: HELPING PARENTS INTO PAID EMPLOYMENT,” Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2001, http://www.oecd.org/social/family/2079435.pdf. 60 “Women and Poverty,” Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, July 2009, https://www.leaf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/WomenPovertyFactSheet.pdf. 61 “Retaining Women in the Workplace,” Ideas for Leaders, February 21, 2014, https://www.ideasforleaders.com/ideas/retaining-women-in-the-workplace. 62 Ibid.

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resources and economic autonomy that impoverished women face. They often lack the means to flee because of an inability to sustain themselves economically. Often, women faced with violence have their behaviour tightly controlled, and they are unable to seek employment or opportunities that would grant them access to services and resources to escape violent situations. An Icelandic study done in 2014 concluded that adolescents that view their families to be less affluent than others were twice as likely to report instances of sexual abuse than their peers that reported medium to ample family affluence. The report also noted that family affluence had a much higher effect on the rates of abuse for girls than boys.63 Even in highly developed nations, there exists a clear correlation between susceptibility to sexual exploitation and violence and poverty, particularly for girls and women. Forced labour disproportionately affects women and girls, which account for 99% of victims in the commercial sex industry, and 58% of labour in other industries.64 In developing nations, the situation is even more dire. Economically disadvantaged girls are 2.5 times more likely to enter into child marriage than those in the wealthiest quintile. 65 Poverty and a lack of education are also tightly intertwined. Without access to education, girls are unable to gain the skills and knowledge necessary to enter into the workforce. Dominating cultural norms that undervalue girls’ education underpin these cyclical factors for poverty, putting women at high risk for intergenerational poverty. Women are often cyclically trapped into bonded labour to pay off loans or to repay a debt. They are particularly at risk due to a lack of education, illiteracy, and the perception that they are economic burdens within the household.

Violence is also a causal factor in poverty, the inverse of the relationship explored above. Intuitively, violence towards women causes debilitating injuries that impact their ability to live a fulfilling, safe life. Physical injury can cause women to take time off work, risking employment, and mental impacts of abuse can have huge ramifications long after the abuse itself has ended. Physical injuries and mental illnesses as a result of violence can cause women to entrench themselves in poverty, or become dependent on their abuser. Unable to leave because of economic dependence, the woman is abused even more. Often, the threat of violence is also used as a tool to deny women opportunities, freedom, and autonomy. Women are coerced into giving up jobs or certain economic freedoms to escape the threat of violence, furthering their dependence.

Possible Solutions and Controversies

Microfinancing and Supplemental Projects Microfinancing, or microloans, serve as a method to loan a set amount of money to an individual for them to start a business or other venture, and eventually pay the loan back with the revenue earned. Microloans are popular in the context of either developed or developing countries, given that they are versatile in their use and benefit. The concept of microfinancing was created in 1983, with the establishment of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh by Professor Muhammad Yunus.66 He began by lending small amounts of money to basket weavers

63 Eyglo Runarsdottir, et al., “The Effects of Gender and Family Wealth on Sexual Abuse of Adolescents,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, no. 10 (May 2019, doi:10.3390/ijerph16101788. 64 “Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking (Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, ” https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm. 65 United Nations Children’s Fund, Ending Child Marriage: Progress and Prospects,” New York: UNICEF, 2014, https://www.unicef.org/media/files/Child_Marriage_Report_7_17_LR.pdf. 66 “The Nobel Peace Prize 2006,” NobelPrize.Org., https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2006/yunus/biographical/.

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in Bangladesh in the 1970s—today, replicas of his credit lending model can be found in more than 100 countries globally. 67 Historically, microloans were provided by wealthy individuals; private investors and donors. However, non-profit organizations and non-governmental programs increasingly offer microfinancing programs. The non-profit Kiva is well known for their facilitation of microloans, while the UN supports a plethora of microfinancing projects around the world. 68 Over the years, the perception of microloans have transformed from a direct solution to alleviate poverty to a more nuanced supplemental benefit that aids the day-to-day lives and financial stability of women. Microloans are particularly beneficial because of the autonomy that is associated with these grants; women are able to specialize in a craft of trade that they are skilled in, expanding their entrepreneurial skills and independence. While not entirely effective on their own, microloans can be used in tandem with other resolutions to promote financial independence. Moreover, supplemental projects from NGOs and UN organs can serve to empower women to achieve economic autonomy, either through establishing resource centres and teaching valuable financial skills directly to women in these areas. UN Women, the UNDP, and the ILO are a handful of transnational organizations that provide targeted programs that offer microfinancing and training for women in different regions across the globe. 69 , 70 , 71 By combining these programs, individuals are able to gain a greater degree of financial autonomy and literacy.

Legislation and Social Services In order to prevent gender-based poverty, it is imperative that there are no legal barriers for women in accessing social services and employment. It is in the best interest of most countries to repeal outdated and oppressive laws that prevent women from accessing employment because more labour force participation directly benefits the economy. Conversely, it would be in most nations’ best interests to mandate protections for women in the workforce: less harrassment and discrimination result in higher rates of retention and more labour force participation. However, it is important to note that creating legislation requires huge amounts of political will. If societal attitudes towards women in the workforce are generally negative, it will be extremely difficult to create legislation without risking massive amounts of backlash. Thus, delegates should consider the tradeoff between economic benefit and social discourse within specific sociopolitical climates.

In addition to legislation, an augmented availability of social services will result in greater income security for women. Mandated paid maternity leave is the most prominent policy that has been shown to effectively keep women in the workforce—and consequently, out of poverty—by ensuring that they can return to employment after a certain amount of time. Nevertheless, certain countries still lack these policies that support women in the workforce. In fact, the United States is the only developed nation in the world not to mandate paid maternity

67 Ibid. 68 “Microfinance: Good for the Poor? | Africa Renewal,” https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/august-2015/microfinance-good-poor. 69 “Supporting Women to Become Entrepreneurs through Microfinance in Central America and the Caribbean,” UN Women, December 14, 2012, https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2012/12/supporting-women-to-become-entrepreneurs-through-microfinance-in-central-america-and-the-caribbean. 70 “Small Change, Big Changes: Women and Microfinance,” International Labour Office, n.d., https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---gender/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_091581.pdf. 71 “UNDP Microfinance and Financial Services Projects,” Washington: United Nations Development Programme, December 2014, https://www.undp.org/content/dam/washington/docs/CountryPapers/NEW_Papers/Microfinance%20and%20Financial%20Services.pdf.

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leave.72 In contrast, Finland—like the majority of Scandinavian countries—offers extremely progressive policies surrounding parental leave: mothers are entitled to a maternity grant along with maternity leave, fathers are entitled to paternity leave, and either parent is entitled to parental leave in addition to maternity or paternity leave.73 The maternity grant is a tax-free lump sum of EUR 140, or as a maternity package that includes newborn essentials.74 Finnish social insurance covers 105 working days with maternity allowance, and fathers are granted a 54 day leave of absence alongside a paternity allowance. Parental leave is taken by either the mother or the father, and begins after maternity or paternity leave; it covers 158 working days with parental allowance.75 The Finnish model, though undoubtedly progressive, has seen huge successes in guaranteeing employment and income security during pregnancy. Nevertheless, without affordable childcare, women often opt to stay at home rather than return to the workforce after pregnancy. In this case, nationally subsidized healthcare systems are again manifested best in European and Nordic countries. Sweden offers subsidized preschools for children with working parents that provides education and childminding from the age of one.76 The fees for the program are capped at a monthly maximum of EUR 125.05, and are proportional to parental income. From the age of three, children are able to receive 525 hours of childminding a year free of charge. The generous system complements its parental leave program, which insures 80 percent of pay during 480 days of parental leave.77 Reports from the OECD show that there is a direct correlation between higher rates of working mothers and subsidized childcare: the five developed countries with the highest percentages of working mothers—Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Sweden—all have nationally subsidized systems for childcare.78 Though these policies may seem idyllic, they require huge amounts of public funding to create and maintain. However, when feasible, the implementation of national policies for parental leave and childcare provides a safety net preventing the increase of gender-based poverty.

Education Education and poverty create a causal cycle in which young women are continually trapped. Nevertheless, education has been shown to be one of the most powerful solutions to lift girls and women out of poverty. Despite a global completion rate for primary education of 89%, only 77% of girls complete lower secondary education.79 Low rates of education become far worse in developing nations; only one third of girls in low income countries complete lower secondary education. 80 This lack of education has high economic costs. The World Bank estimates that barriers to girls’ education has cost countries between USD 15 trillion to USD 30 trillion dollars

72 Ibid. 73 “Finland - Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion - European Commission,” https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1109&langId=en&intPageId=4514. 74 Ibid. 75 Ibid. 76 “Looking to Swedish Model of Childcare and Education | Child Care Canada,” https://www.childcarecanada.org/documents/child-care-news/15/05/looking-swedish-model-childcare-and-education. 77 Ibid. 78 Willem Adema et al., “Walking the Tightrope: Background Brief on Parents’ Work-Life Balance across the Stages of Childhood,” Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, December 2016, http://www.oecd.org/social/family/Background-brief-parents-work-life-balance-stages-childhood.pdf. 79 “Missed Opportunities: The High Cost of Not Educating Girls,” World Bank, https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education/publication/missed-opportunities-the-high-cost-of-not-educating-girls. 80 Ibid.

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in earnings and productivity.81 Girls that complete a secondary school education earn nearly twice the income of those without one, and education allows women to gain economic independence and become less susceptible to dangerous situations like bonded labour and sexual exploitation. The importance of an education in employment is perhaps evident, but the impacts on defying cultural norms and health is sometimes overlooked. An education allows women to become knowledgeable about family planning and reproductive health. In Pakistan, 63% of women with secondary education believe they have a say over the number of children they will have, compared to 30% for women who have no education. 82 In sub-Saharan Africa, providing secondary education to girls would reduce the average birth rate from nearly seven to four children per mother.83 Though education plays a huge factor in poverty reduction, the cyclical nature of poverty often prevents girls from accessing education in the first place. In Nigeria, the rich South East regions boast a 99% literacy rate among wealthy girls—unfortunately, in the North West zones, only 4% of economically disadvantaged girls are able to read.84 Thus, the provision of conditional cash transfers, loans, scholarships, or subsidized education is critical to achieve a higher rate of girls in school. In rural areas, distance is a large factor in decisions to keep girls at home. Thus, building easily accessible schools for girls allows them to have a chance at an education. State-funded programs for higher participation rates in secondary and primary schooling have seen success. Lower secondary school completion rates in Kaduna State in Nigeria increased by 27 percent following the implementation of the State Education Sector Project from 2007-2011. 85 Projects from transnational organizations have also had comprehensive successes, and the multitude of United Nations organs and non-governmental organizations that support various initiatives and projects for girls’ education aim to further rates of education and literacy. In particular, the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative is a United Nations program designed specifically for the improvement of female education.

Bloc Positions

Western Liberal Democracies These nations are not constrained by financial concerns and possess sufficient political capital to accept legislative reforms and the implementation of social programs; however, progress is often bureaucratic and slow to implement. Nevertheless, these “liberal” nations often have a progressive approach to gender parity in poverty alleviation, with massive social pressures for governmental reform and accountability. They will often be called upon for financial support, and will advocate for targeted poverty alleviation in regards to gender. Their social programs offer adequate baseline support for gendered poverty prevention, but are not quite as progressive as many Nordic nations.

81 Ibid. 82 Pauline Rose, “Why Girls’ Education Can Help Eradicate Poverty,” Reuters, September 25, 2013, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-why-girls-education-idUSBRE98O13D20130925. 83 Ibid. 84 “Girls’ Education,” World Bank, September 25, 2017, https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/girlseducation. 85 “Education Sector Overhaul,” World Bank, February 4, 2013, https://projects.worldbank.org/en/results/2013/02/04/education-sector-overhaul.

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African Nations Nations in Africa—sub-Saharan Africa in particular—face staggering inequality; change is slow, met with structural pushback, and difficult in the face of overwhelming poverty. As is true for the majority of African nations with systemic gender inequality embedded in the fabric of their social values, direct intervention from third parties like the UNDP and various NGOs are necessary to facilitate programs that alleviate poverty. It is important to note that pushes for female empowerment and efforts to increase the number of women in the workforce have achieved huge successes for gendered poverty alleviation in recent years. Nonetheless, development has not been equal. The rural-urban divide has only been exacerbated by increased economic prosperity in urban hubs. Thus, vocational training and education within rural areas is becoming increasingly important to reduce the disparity between rural and urban rates of poverty. Though many nations possess restrictive legislation and social norms that dictate female behaviour, it is important to recognize the successes that certain countries have had in gendered poverty alleviation and employment equality. Rwanda is a nation that exemplifies effective gender-based legislation and policy that serves to promote gender parity on a political, economic, and social level. Following the atrocities committed during the Rwandan Genocide, women quickly filled the job market, including the legislature. Subsequently, the government accounted for the value of women in rebuilding Rwanda through its Gender Task Force, and various other gender-specific policies.86 These nations should focus on finding ways to decrease the rural-urban divide in female economic empowerment, as well as increasing legislation to ensure protection of women in the law.

Nordic Nations When considering policies enacted in pursuit of gender equity, Nordic nations like Iceland, Finland, and Sweden highlight the effectiveness of legislation that aims to reduce social pressures. In particular, their maternity leave policies greatly alleviate the poverty associated with unpaid maternity leave and unpaid domestic work (i.e. childcare). Though unfeasible for many nations because of their less-socialist leaning politics, the efficacy of these policies is indisputable. These nations are arguably the most progressive nations in the world, but they possess very specific social conditions that allow for their socialist policies. They are strong proponents for gender equality and avid supporters of programs that combat gender-based poverty; as an example, Norway and Sweden contribute significant funding for the JP RWEE.

United States of America Though developing nations may come to mind before economic powerhouses like the United States when considering the issue of gender-based poverty, the United States finds itself in a unique position among other developed nations. Its gender inequality centers around two main issues: domestic responsibility and inadequate social services. Though these issues manifest in other developed nations as well, the United States is particularly lacking in social services and gender-sensitive policies. Especially when it comes to childcare and pregnancy, women are faced with unaffordable childcare and social pressure to choose motherhood over pursuing employment. Social services pertaining to maternity leave, childcare, and welfare are often unable to account for gendered poverty.

86 Stéphanie Thomson, “How Rwanda Beats the United States and France in Gender Equality,” World Economic Forum, May 2, 2017, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/05/how-rwanda-beats-almost-every-other-country-in-gender-equality/.

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Middle East and North Africa (MENA) MENA is a region with deeply entrenched cultural and religious beliefs that pose significant systemic barriers to women’s economic empowerment, and in turn, leaves them vulnerable to gendered poverty. MENA’s female labour force participation rate is the lowest in the world, with little improvement in the past 40 years.87 Women contribute a mere 18% to the region’s overall GDP, and make up 21% of the labour force.88 Cultural attitudes manifest in the region’s legislation, which prevents autonomous travel without male permission, lower salaries, restricted access to certain industries, and a lack of protection against gender discrimination in employment. The only two countries to pass legislation that prevents discrimination on the basis of gender during the hiring process are Morocco and Djibouti.89 Women in MENA also face an additional layer of risk in gendered poverty: conflict and instability. MENA has been plagued by armed conflict and political turmoil for over a decade. The devastating effects of conflict disproportionately affect women; in times of conflict, the prevalence of gender-based and sexual violence increases, along with lost access to jobs and services.90 Due to a cemented patriarchal structure in most nations, the loss of a main breadwinner leaves women extremely vulnerable to poverty. In Yemen, the rate of child marriage has skyrocketed from half of all girls pre-war, to two thirds in the present.91 Countries in this region will need to consider the intertwined factors contributing to high rates of female poverty, and how—if not whether—they will be able to overcome social narratives surrounding female labour force participation.

Discussion Questions

1. What are the main factors perpetuating gender-based poverty in your country?

2. To what extent do social and legislative barriers impact gender-based poverty?

3. How is assistance best provided for nations with restrictive social narratives surrounding the economic autonomy of women? Is it justified to intervene in these cases?

4. Do all resolutions to gender-based poverty need to consider the aspect of gender in their implementation? Are general poverty reduction policies still effective in this context?

5. What is the timeline of these solutions? Is quick, effective change a possibility, or is slow, bureaucratic change the only reality?

6. How does a country go about the reversal of deeply entrenched social norms? Is it worth it to risk massive backlash, or is social progress simply going to regress with radical change?

87 Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, “Improving Women’s Economic Participation in MENA Nations,” Council on Foreign Relations, February 27, 2017, https://www.cfr.org/blog/improving-womens-economic-participation-mena-nations. 88 “Middle East and North Africa Gender Innovation Lab,” World Bank, https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/mena-gender-innovation-lab. 89 Ibid. 90 “The Central Role of Women in the Middle East and North Africa Transition,” World Bank Blogs, http://blogs.worldbank.org/arabvoices/central-role-women-middle-east-and-north-africa-transition. 91 Ibid.

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Additional Resources

World Bank — Women, Business and the Law (2019) The World Bank releases an annual report on the role of the law in gender inequality, and the impacts of legal gender-based discrimination on women’s employment and entrepreneurial choices. https://wbl.worldbank.org/ Council on Foreign Relations — Legal Barriers The CFR offers an interactive, condensed summary of the key points in the World Bank’s annual report in 2018—Women, Business and the Law. https://www.cfr.org/interactive/legal-barriers/barriers UN Women — Facts and Figures: Economic Empowerment This factsheet provides a comprehensive snapshot of the importance of gender-based economic empowerment, work, and sustainable development. https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/economic-empowerment/facts-and-figures International Labour Organization — Small change, Big changes: Women and Microfinance The ILO provides a report on the impacts and implementation of microfinance; the successes and the shortcomings it has had on poverty alleviation worldwide. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---gender/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_091581.pdf Sabin Bieri and Annemarie Sancar — Power and poverty. Reducing gender inequality by ways of rural employment? Bieri and Sancar offer contemporary critiques of the heralded successes of rural employment programs. They offer nuanced analysis on the shortcomings of these programs in how they affect gender relations and account for cultural norms within nations. http://www.oecd.org/social/gender-development/42806451.pdf

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“Project Factsheet - RWEE Ethiopia.” http://mptf.undp.org/factsheet/project/00092000.

“Project Factsheet - RWEE Nepal.” http://mptf.undp.org/factsheet/project/00092004.

“Retaining Women in the Workplace.” Ideas for Leaders, February 21, 2014. https://www.ideasforleaders.com/ideas/retaining-women-in-the-workplace.

Runarsdottir, Eyglo, Edward Smith, and Arsaell Arnarsson. “The Effects of Gender and Family Wealth on Sexual Abuse of Adolescents.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, no. 10 (May 2019). doi:10.3390/ijerph16101788.

“SDGs .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform.” https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs.

“Six Signature Solutions,” United Nations Development Programme. https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/six-signature-solutions.html.

“Small Change, Big Changes: Women and Microfinance.” International Labour Office. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---gender/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_091581.pdf.

Statistics Canada. “Time Use: Total Work Burden, Unpaid Work, and Leisure,” Government of Canada. July 30, 2018. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/54931-eng.htm.

“Supporting Women to Become Entrepreneurs through Microfinance in Central America and the Caribbean.” UN Women. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2012/12/supporting-women-to-become-entrepreneurs-through-microfinance-in-central-america-and-the-caribbean.

“The Beijing 12 Critical Areas of Concern Deconstructed.” UN Women. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/csw59/feature-stories.

“The Central Role of Women in the Middle East and North Africa Transition.” World Bank Blogs. http://blogs.worldbank.org/arabvoices/central-role-women-middle-east-and-north-africa-transition.

“The Equal Credit Opportunity Act,” August 6, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/crt/equal-credit-opportunity-act-3.

“The JP RWEE Pathway to Women’s Empowerment.” IFAD. https://www.ifad.org/en/web/knowledge/publication/asset/39258088.

“The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015.” UNDP. https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/mdg/the-millennium-development-goals-report-2015.html.

“The Nobel Peace Prize 2006.” NobelPrize.Org. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2006/yunus/biographical/.

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Thomson, Stéphanie. “How Rwanda Beats the United States and France in Gender Equality.” How Rwanda Beats the United States and France in Gender Equality. World Economic Forum, May 2, 2017. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/05/how-rwanda-beats-almost-every-other-country-in-gender-equality/.

“Trust Fund Factsheet - Rural Women Economic Empowerment.” http://mptf.undp.org/factsheet/fund/RWF00.

“UNDP Microfinance and Financial Services Projects.” Washington: United Nations Development Programme. December 2014. https://www.undp.org/content/dam/washington/docs/CountryPapers/NEW_Papers/Microfinance%20and%20Financial%20Services.pdf.

“UNGEI AT 10: A Journey to Gender Equality in Education.” UNICEF. https://www.unicef.org/publications/index_53720.html.

United Nations. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2019. New York: United Nations, 2019. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019.

“United Nations Children’s Fund, Ending Child Marriage: Progress and Prospects.” New York: UNICEF. 2014.

“United Nations: Key Conference Outcomes in Gender and Equality.” https://www.un.org/en/development/devagenda/gender.shtml.

“United Nations Millennium Development Goals.” https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/.

“Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” October 6, 2015. https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/.

“Why Girls’ Education Can Help Eradicate Poverty.” Reuters, September 25, 2013. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-why-girls-education-idUSBRE98O13D20130925.

“Women and Poverty.” Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund. July 2009. https://www.leaf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/WomenPovertyFactSheet.pdf.

“Women, Business and the Law - Gender Equality, Women Economic Empowerment - World Bank Group.” World Bank. https://wbl.worldbank.org/.

Yokota, Mio. “NEPAL JP RWEE Bi-Annual Report 2019.” Accelerating Progress Toward Economic Empowerment of Rural Women in Nepal. UN Women.

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Infrastructure Development in Least Developed Countries

Overview

Throughout its history, the United Nations explored the possibility of introducing a new classification under the umbrella term of Developing Countries. In 1971, the UN officially recognized Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as a classification of states, with the aim of enhancing the capacity to provide more comprehensive and specific aid to them.92 According to the UN, LDCs are highly disadvantaged in their development process as a result of structural, historical, and geographical deficits. As well, LDCs face a higher risk of underdevelopment and impoverishment, with over 75 percent of the current LDC population living in poverty.93 Currently, 47 nations are classified as LDCs, with the list reviewed by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) every three years.94 Being the most vulnerable to external economic, man-made, and natural crises, LDCs are in need of the highest degree of attention and aid from the international community. Today, the 47 LDCs are home to more than 1 billion people, comprising 15 percent of the world’s population. Most LDCs are located in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, and a number can also be classified as landlocked small island developing states.

One of the greatest deterrents to the economic growth of LDCs is a lack of infrastructure. Infrastructure plays a key role in sustainable economic and social development within a country by improving the productivity and efficiency of services and business operations. For instance, because of a lack of adequate ports, railroads, and roads, freight costs in Africa are more than double the global average, thereby hindering trade and economic growth.95

According to estimates from the World Bank, LDCs in Sub-Saharan Africa will need to spend around USD 75 billion per year on both the maintenance and construction of new infrastructure to meet their current needs.96

Unfortunately, this colossal amount is almost 15 percent of the bloc’s GDP, forcing LDCs to rely on foreign aid to fund the infrastructural improvements needed to sustain economic growth.

The UNDP has a uniquely pertinent role in post-conflict reconstruction; as an agency dedicated entirely to development, it often takes a leading role in many regions. UNDP coordinates the UN Development Assistance Framework, laying out the priorities and policies for any country to achieve to further its development, and has historically partnered with other transnational organizations and government entities to coordinate programs

92 "Identification of the Least Developed Among the Developing Countries (A/8521, A/L.644," UN General Assembly, 26th Session, November 18, 1971. http://research.un.org/en/docs/ga/quick/regular/26. 93 Least Developed Countries (LD. (n.d.. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. 94 “Preparing for LDC Graduation and Smooth Transition,” United Nations, May 18, 2006. https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/least-developed-country-category/preparing-for-ldc-graduation-and-smooth-transition.html. 95 Mengitsu, T. June 2013. Emerging Infrastructure Financing Mechanisms in Sub-Saharan Africa. Pardee Rand Graduate School. 96 Ibid.

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and interventions, as well as contributing directly to NGOs and external organizations to fund infrastructure development efforts.

Timeline

September 30, 1961 — The Organisation for European Economic Co-operation reconstitutes as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The organization, consisting today of 36 members, plays a major role in creating funding mechanisms for LDCs and improving efficiency in development.

November 22, 1965 — The Extended Programme of Technical Assistance and the United Nations Special Fund merge to create the United Nations Development Programme.

1969 — The OECD coins the term “Official Development Assistance” (ODA), used to measure the flow of international aid.

September 1971 — During the 26th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, the UN officially passes a resolution to recognize LDCs.

1982 — A major debt crisis hits Africa, preventing countries on the continent from continuing investments in infrastructure.97

1994 — Botswana becomes the first LDC to shed the label, graduating to Developing Country status.

1998 — The UN Committee for Development Policy is created as a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council. It is responsible for reviewing the statuses of LDCs and monitoring countries after graduation.98

September 8, 2000 — The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are established during the UN Millennium Summit to further development globally.

April 2001 — The OECD makes an official recommendation to untie aid to LDCs; receivers of aid are no longer restricted to using aid money to purchase materials from the donor country, and can now use the aid to buy materials from any country.

2001 — The UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) is established by the General Assembly as a follow-up mechanism to monitor progress of the 2001-2010 Programme for Action for the LDCs.99

March 2004 — China strikes an unprecedented deal with Angola, sending over USD 1 billion worth of aid for infrastructure construction in return for oil exports.

97 “African Debt Revisited: Procrastination or Progress?” FONDAD, The Hague. http://www.fondad.org/uploaded/African+Debt+Revisited/African+Debt+Revisited-Chapter+I.pdf. 98 "Resolutions and Decisions of the Economic and Social Council (E/1998/98," UN Economic and Social Council, December 16, 1998. https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/cdp/cdp_res_dec/e_1998_46.pdf. 99 "UN-OHRLLS mandate for LDCs." UN-OHRLLS. http://unohrlls.org/about-ldcs/un-ohrlls-mandate/.

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July 31, 2012 — Work begins to develop a Post-2015 Development Agenda to succeed the MDGs, and a panel of civil society, private sector, and government leaders from around the world is struck.

2013 — China’s Belt and Road Initiative for overseas infrastructure development is established as the One Belt One Road programme.

September 25, 2015 — The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Sustainable Development Goals as the final product of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. These 17 goals are designed to be a "blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.”100

May 14, 2017 — The Belt and Road Forum is held in Beijing, attended by 29 heads of state and government and 70 international organizations.

March 2021 — The Fifth UN Conference on LDCs is set to take place in Doha, Qatar.

Historical Analysis

After the establishment of the LDC category in 1971, the UN Committee for Development Policy (CDP) developed a set of criteria to identity LDCs. Initially, the requirements were a low GDP per capita value and structural impediments to growth in a given country. However, in order to fall in line with developing standards, the CDP developed a set of three criteria to distinguish LDCs. To be classified as an LDC, a country must meet all three criteria. Firstly, the Gross National Income (GNI) of a country is used to determine its absolute national income, and subsequently a three-year average is used to determine its eligibility as an LDC. Secondly, the Human Assets Index (HAI), which provides information about the level of human development, has a threshold for LDC inclusion of 75 percent in a reference group consisting of LDCs and other developing countries under review.101 In other words, in a reference group of LDCs and other developing countries, three out of four countries will be under the threshold and in order to meet the criterion for LDC inclusion.102 Lastly, data is taken from the Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI) to assess the risk posed to a nation’s development by external shocks. The inclusion threshold for the EVI is largely similar to that of the HAI. Additionally, countries with populations over 75 million are not considered for LDC inclusion because the level of development necessary to sustain a population of that size is indicative of development that is more advanced than that of LDCs. It is possible for a state to graduate from an LDC to a developing country once it meets an additional criterion set by the CDP, or when it no longer meets one of the three LDC criteria.

The infrastructure of a country can greatly influence the set of criteria required for LDC classification. Infrastructure can provide better communications, increased access to news and markets, and lower the cost of transportation and logistics in a country, which are all key to sustainable economic development.

100 "About the Sustainable Development Goals," United Nations, https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/. 101 "Least Developed Countries Criteria," UN News Center. http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/cdp/ldc/ldc_criteria.shtml#gni. 102 Ibid.

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Throughout the 1950s, governments in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region with many LDCs, made infrastructure an important priority by allocating large percentages of budgets to the sector. However, because of dipping commodity prices and the African Debt Crisis in the 1980s, governments lost this luxury and could no longer take additional loans to finance infrastructure investments.103 Combined with a flawed belief that the private sector alone could finance infrastructure, Sub-Saharan Africa’s infrastructure investments lagged behind by the turn of the millennium. Because of this, Sub-Saharan African countries failed to attract private sector investment in infrastructure due to a lack of existing technology in cities and also a low population density in rural areas; companies simply could not make profits by investing in infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa.

After decades of neglect, infrastructure of Sub-Saharan African nations needed unrealistic amounts of funding in order to fix a massive infrastructure deficit. As the situation worsened, the infrastructure gap, the difference between infrastructure needs and actual investment in infrastructure, widened dramatically. As a result, economic growth began to stagnate and the expansion of domestic and regional trade was blockaded by poor infrastructure. An excellent illustration of these infrastructure impacts is the comparison of coffee industries in Rwanda and Colombia. On average, it takes 42 days for Rwandan coffee beans to reach a port, due to poor road conditions. Conversely, it only requires about 14 days for Colombian coffee producers to export their products.104 Such comparisons underscore the immense impact substandard infrastructure has on the economies of LDCs. Sub-Saharan African firms in the formal sector reportedly lost 5% of sales due to interruptions to services caused by poor infrastructure, such as power shortages. Similarly, firms in the informal sector lost up to 20% of sales due to the same reasons.105 Presently, the greatest needs for infrastructure are in the power sector, water and sanitation sector, transportation sector, and the communications sector.

Since proper infrastructure is essential to meeting certain Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as Clean Water and Sanitation and Decent Work and Economic Growth, the international community has recently begun providing aid to these LDCs. Throughout the past decade, investments in infrastructure have gradually increased; currently, spending on infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa is approximately USD 45 billion per year. Tax revenues of Sub-Saharan African countries finance 66% of that amount, while the private sector provides the remaining 21%.106 Moreover, 8% is financed through Official Development Assistance (ODA), and 5.5% is supplied by non-OECD financers, such as China.107

Simulations by the World Bank suggest that if infrastructure investment levels of LDCs were to match those of South Korea, the economic growth per capita of nations in the region would increase by up to three percent per year.108 Although the predictions for the future seem bright, the current funding gap exceeds USD 35 billion per

103 Mengitsu, T. June 2013. Emerging Infrastructure Financing Mechanisms in Sub-Saharan Africa. Pardee Rand Graduate School. 104 Herfindahl, E., & Treat, A. "Sub-Saharan Africa: Effects of Infrastructure Conditions on Export Competitiveness, Third Annual Report." Investigation No. 332-477 USITCPublication 4071, 1, ix, 2009. http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4071.pdf. 105 Mengitsu, T. June 2013. Emerging Infrastructure Financing Mechanisms in Sub-Saharan Africa. Pardee Rand Graduate School. 106 Ibid. 107 Ibid. 108 "Fact Sheet: Infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa," The World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/overview#3.

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year, almost the same amount of money currently being invested in infrastructure.109 There is still a long way to go towards assuaging the infrastructure deficits of LDCs, requiring innovative solutions and creative cognition.

Past UN/International Involvement

There are various UN and non-UN agencies that have played a major role in aiding the growth of infrastructure in LDCs for the past decades. The UN General Assembly plans and holds a conference on LDCs every decade, with the most recent conference being held in Istanbul in 2011.110 During the conference, the “Programme of Action for LDCs for the Decade 2011-2020” was released, detailing ambitious targets to be met by the end of the decade. Some include the development of infrastructure for internet and broadband connections, bilateral and regional approaches to improve connectivity and remove infrastructure blockages, and the vehement support of private sector investment.111 There are various subsidiary bodies of large UN agencies, such as the UNCDP and the UN-OHRLLS, that also closely monitor and analyze the status of LDCs.

Outside the UN, the OECD is certainly one of the most dominant international organizations in facilitating and promoting aid to LDCs. Since its founding in 1961, it has worked to improve the efficiency and amount of international aid flowing to various sectors of LDCs. The OECD also established the ODA, a widely used indicator for international aid flow. The OECD budget's main contributors are the United States (21.2%), Japan (12.86%), and Germany (7.61%).112 In terms of the OECD’s contributions to infrastructure projects in LDCs, ODA amounts to eight percent of the total current spending. Other than monetary contributions, the OECD has also endeavoured to enhance the effectiveness of aid through technical and operational support.

In 2001, the OECD made an official recommendation to untie aid, with aims to promote and ensure adequate ODA aid flows. 113 With this recommendation, the receivers of aid have more freedom in purchasing infrastructure supplies, as they are no longer limited to buying from only the donor countries of aid. Today, the proportion of untied aid is about 82 percent, with the percentage still optimally increasing.114 In 2005, the OECD adopted the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, emphasizing the need and potential for aid to create a greater impact. The Declaration was based on a series of measures to improve the effectiveness of aid, and a monitoring system to ensure accountability for both aid donors and receivers.115

However, the OECD has also encountered various challenges in terms of funding. Although many Western nations, such as the United States and Germany, previously pledged to commit 0.7 percent of their gross national products (GNP) to ODA, very few countries have actually met this commitment. In sum, albeit the presence of

109 Ibid. 110 “Outcomes on Least Developed Countries,” UN News Center. http://www.un.org/en/development/devagenda/ldc.shtml. 111 "Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries." Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020 (A/CONF.219/3, May 11, 2011. https://www.un.org/en/conf/ldc/pdf/ldc4_brochure_en.pdf. 112 "Member Countries' Budget Contributions for 2019," OECD. https://www.oecd.org/about/budget/member-countries-budget-contributions.htm.

113 "Untying Aid: The Right to Choose," Development - OECD. http://www.oecd.org/development/untyingaidtherighttochoose.htm. 114 Ibid. 115 "Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action," Aid effectiveness - OECD. http://www.oecd.org/dac/effectiveness/parisdeclarationandaccraagendaforaction.htm.

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some challenges in utilization and funding, the OECD has greatly improved the efficacy of aid to LDCs over the past few decades, and acts as one of the most important monitors of international aid.

Current Situation

Currently, most of the funds for construction and maintenance of infrastructure in LDCs are provided by external sources, including ODA from OECD countries, aid from non-OECD financers, and also funds from Private Participation in Infrastructure (PPI). The PPI consists of data from the World Bank on various projects started by private corporations in low-income countries. Because of increased funding from the private sector, the total amount of money invested in infrastructure in LDCs has increased gradually since 2000. In 2007, PPI in Africa reached a new high of USD 17.5 billion, accounting for a substantial portion—47 percent—of the total spending on infrastructure in the region.116 Unfortunately, because of the global economic crisis of 2008, PPI levels dipped for the next few years, with the PPI in 2010 being a significantly lowerUSD 13.8 billion.

Besides increased participation and investment from the private sector, the role of non-OECD financers has also grown substantially over the past few years. Non-OECD financers are simply countries that are not part of the OECD, with China and Russia being notable examples, that contribute to global development funds for LDCs. Funding levels from these countries skyrocketed from less than USD 1 billion in 2000 to almost USD 13 billion in 2010.117 China is by far the largest investor in this category, having contributed USD 9 billion alone in 2010. Since then, China’s contributions have continued to multiply, with total Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in LDCs estimated at well in excess of USD 31 billion in 2017. Alongside Russia and China, other prominent foreign financers of Sub-Saharan African infrastructure include the World Bank and the African Development Bank, which itself disbursed a record USD 5.1 billion in 2017 across the continent, largely to LDCs.118 However, despite promising growth in the last decade, the gap between the amount of money needed to sufficiently meet infrastructure needs in LDCs and the actual amount of money invested is still sizable.

Infrastructure Financing Mechanisms There are many different methods for the funding of infrastructure projects in LDCs. Funds can be obtained from the public sector, the private sector, or a combination of both (public-private partnership, PPP, P3). Private sector funds comprise of equity firms in industries such as roads, airports, and telecommunications. Because of the substantial risk involved in investing in LDCs, this type of funding is rare. Examples of funds from the public sector include government tax revenues, foreign aid (including loans and grants), and loans from private banks. There are also a variety of different mechanisms and instruments within the public sector to finance projects. A few of the most common methods used by almost all financers are grants, loans at concessional rates, and equity financing. In addition, certain countries, such as Germany, Japan, and China, use export credits, essentially making use of their own exports to be used in infrastructure projects in LDCs.119

116 Mengitsu, T. June 2013. Emerging Infrastructure Financing Mechanisms in Sub-Saharan Africa. Pardee Rand Graduate School. 117 Ibid. 118 "African Development Bank Headlines Strong Performance Ahead of Key Investment Forum," African Bank of Development, https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/african-development-bank-headlines-strong-performance-ahead-of-key-investment-forum-18602. 119 Ibid.

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Currently, there are many differences in the types of loans offered by financers. Some loans, provided by agencies such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank, have extremely low interest rates, while others, mainly loans from China, are closer to the market rate. The repayment periods for loans also vary greatly among different financers. Typically, financers are very generous in their repayment periods, allowing up to 50 years. Conversely, China’s repayment window is relatively short, at 15–20 years with a 5-year grace period.120

China and the Belt and Road Initiative Another type of loan, unique to China, is the resource-backed loan. Essentially, China lends funds to a LDC for building infrastructure, and the country repays the loan through natural resource exports or access to exploitation rights of resources. Interestingly, the types of resources exchanged in these loans are not limited to oil and minerals. China has also diversified into other commodities, such as cacao and sesame seeds. Ultimately, the motive behind these types of loans is to secure natural resources for China, resulting in a mutually beneficial relationship between the donor and recipient countries.

A major point of attractiveness in Chinese financing for LDCs lies in its flexibility and modularity. In contrast to traditional OECD and UN loans accompanied by stringent political and economic conditions, China’s arrangements are consistent with the country’s proclaimed non-interventionist approach, allowing for greater choice and independence in the allocation of aid resources.121 China is also noted for its lack of involvement in infrastructure project planning; however, this lack of scrutiny has the potential to encourage “white elephant” works that drain resources without meaningful benefit. Furthermore, Chinese contracts allow for renegotiations of terms, even after construction of infrastructure has begun. In recent years, China has also cancelled a number of debts by Sub-Saharan African nations and LDCs, opting instead for ownership or exclusive rights to resources; for example, when Sri Lanka was unable to repay its loans, Sri Lanka was forced to give China exclusive rights to one of Sri Lanka's shipping ports.

More recently, in 2013 China officially launched the One Belt One Road Initiative, which is today known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a novel strategy for China-centred global development through worldwide infrastructure and trade investment.122 The BRI, which has a broad and flexible membership but is centred on 71 key “corridor economies,” comprises more than 35% of global FDI and 40% of global goods exports.123 Accompanying the initiative’s geographic scale has been a proportionate financial investment, with an estimated USD 600 billion poured into the planning, implementation, and execution of the associated projects and agreements.124 Yet, this massive undertaking has not been without its challenges. Critically, issues of opacity, transparency, environmental degradation, and, most crucially, debt sustainability, have emerged, with vital implications for the future of LDC infrastructure development.

One of many such crippling white elephants is Sri Lanka’s Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, constructed with a loan from China and opened in 2013 to relieve congestion at the country’s main Bandaranaike

120 Ibid. 121 Ibid. 122 "Belt and Road Initiative," World Bank, March 29, 2018. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/regional-integration/brief/belt-and-road-initiative. 123 Ibid. 124 Ibid.

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International Airport. However, being located in a rural area far from the capital, the new airport failed to attract the expected traffic, receiving a mere 50,000 passengers despite its 1-million capacity, and resulting in it being dubbed “The World’s Emptiest International Airport.”125 Despite the airport’s apparent flop, Sri Lanka still has a USD 200-million loan at a high-interest rate from the Export-Import (Exim) Bank of China, which remains unpaid amid failed attempts at restructuring.126

The emergence of new financers, especially China, over the past decade has caused many new challenges for the traditional players in the funding of LDC infrastructure, specifically in Africa. Although some have praised the flexibility and practicality of China’s loans, others believe that China has threatened the foundation built over the past decades by OECD financers by tolerating bad governance, corruption, and the misuse of aid funds.127

The high interest rates characteristic of China’s loans have also been decried as predatory lending and “debt-trap diplomacy,” supposedly engaging in bad-faith investment for state gain. Moreover, China’s loan contracts are reported to ignore traditional conditions on social and environmental protection, ultimately deterring progress to sustainable development in LDCs.128

Alternative Development Strategies One of the traditional contributors to LDC development, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) employs an alternate capacity-building approach to infrastructure growth. USAID’s three-pronged strategy seeks to assist trade negotiators in analyzing complex issues in negotiations, help countries implement agreements and required institutional, regulatory, and management reforms, and to prepare countries to benefit from trade through enhanced competitiveness and domestic industry.129

Possible Solutions and Controversies

Increased Infrastructure Funding In order to close the infrastructure gaps in LDCs, work will not only be required in raising additional funds, but also in improving and maintaining current infrastructure. Closing the infrastructure gap would require a radical increase in current infrastructure funding from both governments and organizations. In order to strive towards this goal, measures to leverage and coordinate different sources of funding could be implemented. For example, in order to attract the private sector to invest in LDCs, nations could take advantage of existing mechanisms, such as the Africa50 Infrastructure Fund created by the African Development Bank, to fund and develop projects. Another example would be the China-Africa Development Fund, a subsidiary body of the China Development Bank, which is expected to bring further Chinese infrastructure investments to Africa and LDCs. If properly coordinated and utilized, these mechanisms can allow an increase in funds to be invested in LDC infrastructure.

125 "No more flights from Sri Lanka’s second airport," Gulf News, June 8, 2018. https://gulfnews.com/business/aviation/no-more-flights-from-sri-lankas-second-airport-1.2233641. 126 Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema, "Concerns Over Mattala Performance," The Sunday Leader, http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2013/05/12/concerns-over-mattala-performance/. 127 Ibid. 128 Ibid. 129 "Trade and Investment," USAID, https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/economic-growth-and-trade/trade-and-regulatory-reform/trade-and-investment.

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However, increased funding solutions must take care to mitigate risks of corruption, exploitation, and misuse, all of which will ultimately prove detrimental to their beneficiaries.

Technical Capacity-Building Taking cues from USAID’s innovative approach of strengthening domestic capabilities, investing in technical support may prove effective in addressing the infrastructure woes of LDCs. While a significant departure from traditional LDC investment and coordination, this capacity-building strategy presents a compelling and complementary alternative; while financial contributions are still essential to growth, technical skills and institutional knowledge are also critical to sustainable and meaningful reforms. Though unlikely to serve as a stand-alone programme, technical capacity-building may prove highly successful if carefully planned and implemented alongside other strategies.

Regional Integration Another possible solution that has rapidly gained popularity among LDC politicians is the concept of regional integration. Since many small Sub-Saharan African LDCs are unable to afford and build costly infrastructure such as power plants, alone, nations could cooperate, pooling funds and sharing infrastructure. There have already been experiments for this type of cooperation; most notably, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) launched the West African Power Pool project in 2000, aiming to stabilize energy supply in the region. With complete integration analysis finalized in 2011, several specific projects are complete or underway, including the Gouina Hydropower Plant, the CLSG Interconnector and Riviera-Prestea Interconnector Project, while feasibility studies have been initiated for a number of other identified priority projects.130 Bolstered by the effective success of this project, a similar approach may be chosen for replication elsewhere, capitalizing on regional cooperation to achieve overall advancement.

Natural Disasters A concern for the development of infrastructure in LDCs is that projects are extremely prone to interruption by natural disasters like floods and droughts. According to the African Development Bank, these disasters are a major hindrance to development in many Sub-Saharan African nations. 131 To fully utilize infrastructure projects, preemptive measures must also be implemented such that progress on an infrastructure project is not reverted when a natural disaster strikes, thereby decreasing the impact of disasters on LDCs.

Corruption Unfortunately accompanying many infrastructure solutions, widespread corruption in LDC public sectors is a crucial factor to be considered and accounted for. Misuse of aid is common among developing nations, and institutions that were set up to audit and check for corruption are often under-funded or lack substantive power and authority. Furthermore, financing agencies for aid also often lack transparency. In order to truly ameliorate the infrastructure deficit in LDCs, financing mechanisms must become more transparent, while a comprehensive

130 "Update of the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP Masterplan," European Commission, https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/update-west-africa-power-pool-wapp-masterplan_en. 131 "African Development Bank Rolls Out Programme to Boost Climate Risk Financing and Insurance for African Countries," African Development Bank. https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/african-development-bank-rolls-out-programme-to-boost-climate-risk-financing-and-insurance-for-african-countries-18618.

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and functioning system must also be established to detect and prevent corruption and misuse of funds. Moreover, in any solution selected, corruption must be accounted for and preemptively addressed to the greatest extent possible.

Bloc Positions

Least Developed Countries These countries, mainly concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, are at the forefront of this issue. With their futures at stake, they are likely to push the committee to adopt substantive measures, like increased commitments from organizations and funding mechanisms and regional integration, to attempt to solve this daunting issue. However, the balance between dependence on foreign aid, or aid from agencies like the UNDP, and self-sustaining infrastructure is a hard one to balance— especially when considering contemporary criticisms concerning neocolonialism and direct intervention. Thus, these countries may favour solutions that preserve their autonomy and independence, allowing them to maintain sovereignty despite receiving international assistance.

OECD Members These nations, which include the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan, among many others, contribute a large amount in the total ODA to LDCs for their infrastructure projects. While they might be reluctant to commit to increasing their investments, they are definitely supporters of sustainable growth and the closing of the infrastructure gap in LDCs. However, increasing criticism against Western intervention has made it harder for direct involvement on the part of a sovereign nation to be enacted without heavy scrutiny. Nevertheless, the fact of the matter remains that these nations often provide necessary finances to facilitate infrastructural development. As a result, such nations may favour a USAID-style capacity-building approach, promoting technical support over mere financial contributions in seeking to avoid dependence and entanglement.

Non-OECD Financers This group of countries is not part of the OECD, but contributes sizable amounts of investments to LDCs. With China leading this group, members will attempt to invest in LDCs in exchange for increased influence in the area. Russia, another superpower in this group, takes a similar stance as China by actively supporting LDCs with funding. Such states are likely to support their alternative financing strategies to continue the status quo, deriding traditional methods as inefficient and ineffective. While capacity-building may assist in implementing their strategies, it is not a significant focus and is unlikely to be advanced. Similarly regional integration may run counter to broad programmes like the BRI, and is likely to thus be relegated.

Developing Countries While these countries are not in a position of being able to offer substantial aid to LDCs, they will closely monitor progress made in committee and try to use the measures provided to LDCs by developed countries and aid providers to benefit their own country. Also, more capable developing countries, like Turkey have the capability and are willing to contribute to the ODA for LDCs in return for a more stable and peaceful world. With some

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members of this bloc still seeking to benefit from international assistance themselves, they may oppose perceived overreach and financial hyperextension that is to the apparent detriment of their own interests.

Discussion Questions

1. Will increased aid alone fix the infrastructure deficit? If not, what else is needed to ameliorate the issue?

2. Would too much private sector investment have negative implications?

3. Should politicians favour China’s “non-interventionist” aid over traditional methods, or vice versa?

4. Are there more efficient methods of funding besides loans and grants?

5. Should there be international regulations on non-OECD financers to prevent countries like China from potentially deterring progress made by traditional financers for sustainable growth in society and the environment? How would such regulations apply?

6. What else can the UN do to further aid the construction of infrastructure by LDCs?

7. Is attracting the private sector the most important goal to reduce the infrastructure deficit? Should other objectives be prioritized?

Additional Resources

Emerging Infrastructure Financing Mechanisms in Sub-Saharan Africa: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/rgs_dissertations/RGSD300/RGSD316/RAND_RGS D316.pdf Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development: http://www.oecd.org/ UNCTAD: Regional Cooperation and Integration in Sub-Saharan Africa: http://unctad.org/en/Docs/osgdp20084_en.pdf USITC: Sub-Saharan Africa: Effects of Infrastructure Conditions on Export Competitiveness, Third Annual Report: http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4071.pdf

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