Regional Workshop on Development Finance Assessment within the Regional Platform on Sustainable Development Goals in Central Asia 

Today, on December 8, a Regional Workshop on Development Finance Assessment (DFA) was held as part of the implementation of the newly launched regional platform on Sustainable Development Goals in Central Asia.  The Workshop wa.organized by the offices of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Experts from Economic Research Institute JSC (ERI) took part in this event.

The seminar was attended by Tim Strawson, International Consultant on SDG Finance, experts from the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub: Suren Pogosyan, Adviser on SDG Financing, Mikhail Pelyakh, Program Specialist on Green Economy and Employment, and Yelena Danilova-Kross, Program Specialist.

The workshop focused on several aspects of the Development Finance Assessment tool. National partners from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan presented their approaches and experiences in conducting DFA and all potential benefits of this process for monitoring and forecasting financial flows relevant to achieving the SDGs.

Speakers from countries that have successfully completed their DFAs, using specific approaches in Development Finance Assessment, shared their experiences and conclusions from the assessment.

Bakytgul Khambar, Director of the SDG Secretariat of ERI, spoke about the experience of Development Finance Assessment in Kazakhstan. She noted that Kazakhstan successfully completed its Development Finance Assessment at the country level with the support of the UN Development Programme and the Asian Development Bank. Lessons learned from the Development Finance Assessment allow for a more detailed assessment at the local level.

Currently experts from Economic Research Institute are assessing the financing of Almaty, Karaganda and North Kazakhstan regions with the support of the national government and the UNDP.

During the workshop, participants also discussed potential ways to approach the Development Finance Assessment in Turkmenistan.

In addition, participants agreed to continue regular consultations on the way forward after the DFA and general implementation phases of the Integrated National Financing Framework in the future.

To date, four of the five UNDP country teams in Central Asia are working with their respective national partners to develop the platform of the Integrated National Financing Framework and have already completed an analysis of the DFA.

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Note: The Regional Platform for Sustainable Development Goals in Central Asia is financed by the European Union and the UNDP.

Read also: Launch of the Regional SDGs Platform