Background
While COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the entire world, it has particularly amplified the unique vulnerabilities of Small Islands Developing States (SIDS); they are now disproportionately bearing the brunt of the global decline in international travel, in global commodity prices as well as the overall disruptions in worldwide trade and supply chains. On the frontline of multiple world crises - climate, nature, health and economics and finance- SIDS acute structural challenges and multi-dimensional vulnerabilities are more than ever exposed and intensifying over time. Multiple SIDS vulnerabilities interact and drive one another at an alarming rate. Addressing these vulnerabilities is a significant challenge for SIDS, most of whom are middle income countries, and thus are not necessarily eligible to access concessionary finance based on GDP or other established criteria. Indeed vulnerability is not captured through the measurement of national income.
As complex causes for vulnerability will persist without proper characterization, the need and call for the development of indices that adequately capture the particular vulnerabilities of SIDS to guide programmatic support, viable debt service payment and financing for sustainable development have been around since the adoption of the Agenda 21. The call for exploration of criteria based on vulnerability was repeated in the Barbados Programme of Action, mentioned in the Mauritius Strategy and re-echoed in the SAMOA Pathway.
During the last 3 decades, several UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions carried similar repeated calls. In 2020, with the advent of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the UN reiterated the need to advance and develop a composite vulnerability index for SIDS. As a follow-up, recommendations on the potential development and coordination of work within the UN system on a Multidimensional Vulnerability Index for SIDS, including on its potential finalization and use, are planning to be presented at the General Assembly in 2021.
In that context, UNDESA and the United Nations Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlock Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS) are-leading the UN Secretariat’s effort to map all the initiatives on the development and use of a MVI for SIDS. Indeed, there are numerous efforts currently being undertaken by various organizations and institutions, from within and outside the UN system, on developing a Multidimensional Vulnerability Index for SIDS.
Through a series of technical webinars and inter-governmental consultations and briefings from February to May 2021, UNDESA and OHRLLS will therefore be soliciting information from all the relevant organizations working on vulnerability indicators and indices. The platform created by UNDESA and OHRLLS allows to exchange views, lessons learned and perspectives in order to provide associated recommendations on the way forward. The work presented by the different organizations will be publicly available online on this website.
For further information, please feel free to contact us.
Member States and Others Inputs
Inputs received from Member States and Others following the webinar series and briefings to Member States.
- Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)
- Republic of Cuba
- European Union and its Member States
- United States of America
UN System:
MVI Report
MVI Final Report
https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/Final_MVI_report.pdf
MVI Results
https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/MVI_Results.pdf
Member States Consultations - 28 Apr - 10 May 2023
Guidelines for Participating in Consultations
https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2023-04/Guidelines_for_Participating_in_Consultations.pdf
Indicator Suggestion Form:
https://sdgs.un.org/documents/attachment-1-indicator-suggestion-form-52174
MVI Prototype and Preliminary Results
MVI - Preliminary Country Scores:
https://www.un.org/ohrlls/content/mvi-preliminary-country-scores
For full Results, please visit the UN-OHRLLS page:
https://www.un.org/ohrlls/mvi/documents
Concepts and Indicators
https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2023-04/Concepts_and_%20Indicators_24_%20April_2023.pdf
VRCP
https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2023-04/VRCP_3_pager.pdf
https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2023-04/VRCP_Presentation_Member_States_Consultations.pdf
MVI Governance Structure
https://sdgs.un.org/documents/he-ms-solbergs-presentation-mvi-governance-arrangement-52178
Statements Delivered by Member States during the Consultations on 28 April and 9 and 10 May 2023
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Suggestions on Indicators Received by Member States and Others
Statements and Comments by Member States during the Consultations on 27 and 29 June 2023:
https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2023-07/Bangladesh_Comments_on_MVI_29June2023.pdf
https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2023-07/LDC_Statement_on_MVI_30%20June2023.pdf
Asian Development Bank Statement on Methodology of MVI:
https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/ADB_Statement_on_methodology_of_MVI.pdf
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MVI Interim Report
https://sdgs.un.org/documents/mvi-interim-report-48378
PGA Letter - MVI Interim Report
https://sdgs.un.org/documents/pga-letter-mvi-interim-report-48379
Letter from Co-Chairs - MVI Interim Report
https://sdgs.un.org/documents/letter-co-chairs-mvi-interim-report-48380
Guidelines on Submitting Comments to the Interim Report
https://sdgs.un.org/documents/guidelines-submitting-comments-interim-report-48381
Comments received from Member States on MVI Interim Report
Report of the Secretary-General
https://undocs.org/en/A/76/211
Multidimensional Vulnerability Indices
https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/multidimensional_vulnerability_indices_0.pdf
