- Background
Leaving no one behind (LNOB) is the central, transformative promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals. LNOB means moving beyond assessing average and aggregate progress, towards ensuring progress for all population groups at a disaggregated level.
To support governments and the United Nations system in the Asia-Pacific region, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has developed a user-friendly diagnostic tool called Leave No One Behind (LNOB) platform. The tool is used to improve the understanding of how various circumstances intersect and create inequalities in access to basic opportunities covered by the Sustainable Development Goals. Building on empirical methodologies such as Classification and Regress Trees (CART) and the Dissimilarity index (D-index), it uses data and statistics at national and subnational levels to identify groups left furthest behind and the circumstances they share.
In this technical R training, ESCAP took participants through the inner workings of its LNOB platform, using the statistical R code that prepares, analyzes and produces evidence on 16 SDG indicators based on the India Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) from 2020. In addition to replicating the results hosted in LNOB platform, participants will also learn how to operationalize the LNOB methodology on indicators other than 16 SDG indicators currently available on the platform. Equipped with this knowledge, participants can then analyze other nationally representative household surveys.
- Training Objectives
The primary objective of this statistical training was to strengthen national capacities in building the evidence base to developing policies that reduce inequality of opportunity and accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, by making sure that those left behind are also included.
At the end of the training, technical officials and specialists were able to map out inequalities in access to opportunities and prevalence of barriers for which they had data and identify furthest behind and furthest ahead and quantify the level of inequality at national and sub-national levels through the D-Index.
- Target Audience
The statistical training drew participation from statisticians, technical officials and specialists in ministries, departments and agencies, academia, think-thanks, research institution and the United Nations system entities. Given the complexity of the code and the short duration of the training, a basic level of understanding of and experience with statistical software programmes such as R and Stata would be helpful to follow the instructions. Participants were recommended to follow ESCAP guidelines for installing and preparing the R Studio environment before the training begins. It might be beneficial, but is not required, for participants to review basic R skills which can be found by a simple search on the internet.
- Organization and Participation