1. Background

Leaving no one behind (LNOB) is the central, transformative promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 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 national training, ESCAP introduced the LNOB tool, collect feedback from experts in explaining the key results and carry out guided and interactive policy discussion on how results from the LNOB tool can strengthen policy design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation in Fiji with particular attention to the upcoming Voluntary National Review in July 2023.

2. Training Objectives

By the end of this course, participants would: 

1. Understand the Classification and Regression Tree (CART) methodology and how it is used to identify the furthest behind. 
2. Understand the Dissimilarity Index (D-Index) and how it is calculated to provide a single numerical value that summarizes inequality in a particular development area. 
3. Have a thorough review of the 16 SDG indicators covered in the UNESCAP LNOB tool.
4. Understand all the graphs and charts included in the UNESCAP LNOB tool, as well as navigating through the tool. 
5. Learn how the analysis can be adapted to best serve individual country requirements.

3. Target Audience

This course was open to participation from the Government, the United Nations Country Team, research institutions, academia, and civil society. Thematically, LNOB tool covered SDG indicators that pertain to educational attainment, access to basic services (i.e., electricity, basic drinking water and sanitation, electricity and internet) as well as women’s and children’s health, It was best suited for those who were involved in policymaking related to the SDGs (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 17) or who were working with groups left furthest behind. 

4. Organization and Participation

The national training was organized in hybrid format at Holiday Inn Suva, Fiji on 6 March 2023. Physical attendance was encouraged with up to 30-40 participants. The meeting was conducted in English. The tentative programme of the training is detailed on the programme tab.