Introduction:

In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, world leaders pledged to Leave No One Behind by committing to eradicate poverty in all its forms, end discrimination and exclusion and reduce inequalities and vulnerabilities.

‘Leaving No One Behind’ means providing universal access to basic services and opportunities, irrespective of a person’s age, sex, ethnicity, wealth or place of residence. It means upholding everyone’s right to access, enshrined in international human rights law and national legislation across the world.

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 (UNESCAP) has developed a Leave No One Behind (LNOB) analytical tool. 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 (SDGs). It uses data and statistics to identify groups left furthest behind and the circumstances holding them back.

In this introductory training we will cover how the UNESCAP tool works and can be used to strengthen policy interventions for a more equal and inclusive Asia-Pacific region. Each training is customized to the country where it is being delivered. 

Course Objectives:

By the end of this course, participants will: 

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 15 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. 

Target Audience:

This course is open to participants from the Government, the United Nations Country Team, academia and civil society. It is best suited for those who are involved in policymaking related to the SDGs or who are working with groups left furthest behind. The LNOB tool can be accessed at: https://lnob.unescap.org.