Working Local, Thinking Global Seminar with Mr Niloy Banerjee (UNDP)
“Working Local, Thinking Global: Engaging Evidence in Policy Making towards the SDGs" webinar series
IMPORTANT: This is a virtual event. Registered participants will receive an email with details on how to access the webinar.
Webinar Abstract
Evidence based policy-making, especially for the local level.
This presentation will focus on how to generate evidence based policy that makes the link between global overarching constructs and local action. Mr Banerjee will take an expanded view of what ‘local’ means, and then go on to describe a pathway for how local action and global thought can interact for maximum impact.
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We examine through the lens of the SDG’s – arguably one of the most comprehensive ever global frameworks that have guided human action.
Global frameworks are useful – as political consensus shapers, as guidance, as performance comparison platforms, and as the starting block of global guidelines for action. The COVID global contagion - and a remarkably similar health response pattern in countries across the world – has vividly illustrated that global frameworks are necessary, so we don’t have to ‘invent’ unit by unit, or time after time. However, we need to ensure that local action remains context-appropriate.
We seek to unpack what ‘local’ connotes. As we have discovered in the MDG era, aggregate numbers of targets reached don’t tell the entire story of many excluded local pockets where targets have indeed not been met, and in some cases, slid back. So, the key is the definition of local. It could mean at the level of a country, a community a state, a sub-region, a town/city. But equally, while ‘local’ connotes a unit of geography, in our view, it should also connote cohorts of the population – women, elderly, people with disabilities. This is key.
Malaysia particularly needs planning that is firmly driven by the needs of this ‘local’ as defined above – by geography and by population cohort. For example, some towns/cities are farther ahead in achieving the SDGs than some others. Malaysian men are further ahead in meeting Goal 8 (decent jobs) than Malaysian women. So, in many SDGs, while the overall aggregate numbers for Malaysia maybe positive, when disaggregated, many disparities show up. So, what are the pre-requisites for evidence based policy making for the ‘local’?
About the speaker
Niloy is a development economist with specialization in effective institutions and capacity development. He previously led the UN System Affairs Group in UNDP, based in New York.
In this position he led UNDP’s interface with UN agencies, funds and programmes, and with Member States in the arena of intergovernmental affairs. He has also led UNDP's engagement in the round of UN reforms.
In previous assignments, he has been the Director of Knowledge, Innovation and Capacity Development Group; and Team Leader and Policy Advisor of Asia-Pacific - all for the Bureau for Development Policy in UNDP. He is highly familiar with the region, having been a regional policy advisor who supported countries in Asia-Pacific, and set up of the Singapore Policy Center for UNDP.
Niloy was appointed as the Resident Representative for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam on March 7, 2019.
Niloy has a Masters in Economics from New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University and is a Fellow of the City University of New York.
“Working Local, Thinking Global: Engaging Evidence in Policy Making towards the SDGs" webinar series
IMPORTANT: This is a virtual event. Registered participants will receive an email with details on how to access the webinar.
Webinar Abstract
Evidence based policy-making, especially for the local level.
This presentation will focus on how to generate evidence based policy that makes the link between global overarching constructs and local action. Mr Banerjee will take an expanded view of what ‘local’ means, and then go on to describe a pathway for how local action and global thought can interact for maximum impact.
****
We examine through the lens of the SDG’s – arguably one of the most comprehensive ever global frameworks that have guided human action.
Global frameworks are useful – as political consensus shapers, as guidance, as performance comparison platforms, and as the starting block of global guidelines for action. The COVID global contagion - and a remarkably similar health response pattern in countries across the world – has vividly illustrated that global frameworks are necessary, so we don’t have to ‘invent’ unit by unit, or time after time. However, we need to ensure that local action remains context-appropriate.
We seek to unpack what ‘local’ connotes. As we have discovered in the MDG era, aggregate numbers of targets reached don’t tell the entire story of many excluded local pockets where targets have indeed not been met, and in some cases, slid back. So, the key is the definition of local. It could mean at the level of a country, a community a state, a sub-region, a town/city. But equally, while ‘local’ connotes a unit of geography, in our view, it should also connote cohorts of the population – women, elderly, people with disabilities. This is key.
Malaysia particularly needs planning that is firmly driven by the needs of this ‘local’ as defined above – by geography and by population cohort. For example, some towns/cities are farther ahead in achieving the SDGs than some others. Malaysian men are further ahead in meeting Goal 8 (decent jobs) than Malaysian women. So, in many SDGs, while the overall aggregate numbers for Malaysia maybe positive, when disaggregated, many disparities show up. So, what are the pre-requisites for evidence based policy making for the ‘local’?
About the speaker
Niloy is a development economist with specialization in effective institutions and capacity development. He previously led the UN System Affairs Group in UNDP, based in New York.
In this position he led UNDP’s interface with UN agencies, funds and programmes, and with Member States in the arena of intergovernmental affairs. He has also led UNDP's engagement in the round of UN reforms.
In previous assignments, he has been the Director of Knowledge, Innovation and Capacity Development Group; and Team Leader and Policy Advisor of Asia-Pacific - all for the Bureau for Development Policy in UNDP. He is highly familiar with the region, having been a regional policy advisor who supported countries in Asia-Pacific, and set up of the Singapore Policy Center for UNDP.
Niloy was appointed as the Resident Representative for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam on March 7, 2019.
Niloy has a Masters in Economics from New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University and is a Fellow of the City University of New York.