The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development enshrines a number of important principles, including the principles of “leaving no one behind” and “reaching the furthest behind first”. Developing knowledge, skills and awareness, in addition to other capacities, of learners in most of need, including those from the least-developed countries (LDCs), the landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), the small island developing States (SIDS) and the fragile states and those countries emerging from conflict is also reflected in UNITAR’s 2018-2021 Strategic Framework.

UNITAR keeps track of progress to ensure that its programmes are on target towards meeting strategic objectives and helping Member States achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

In 2018, UNITAR strengthened knowledge, skills and awareness of 19,364 learners from countries in special situation compared with 18,346 from the previous year’s data. Despite the marginal increase, given the overall growth in UNITAR learners, UNITAR’s proportion of learners from countries in special situation has decreased from 49 per cent to 32 per cent of all learners.

UNITAR commits to continuing these assessments to analyse trends closely and ensure UNITAR’s programming can make its footprint as big as possible to help reach the furthest behind first in the spirit of the 2030 Agenda.

To see more data on our work with countries in special situations please see the infographic below.