OPHI and UNDP to launch two joint publications at this year’s HLPF

OPHI will be launching two substantive publications at the margins of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) at the UNHQ this year. Both were the product of an enriching collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). First to be launched will be the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2019 figures, and second, a Handbook to support practitioners in building national MPIs. 

The HLPF is the central platform for the United Nations for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It provides for the full and effective participation of all States Members of the United Nations and States members of specialized agencies. 

Alongside the ministerial meeting of the forum, on Wednesday 17 July, OPHI and the UNDP Human Development Report Office (HDRO) will launch the findings from the 2019 global Multidimensional Poverty Index to shed light on progress towards SDG 1. Presenting the report and its key findings will be Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator, Pedro Conceição, Director of the HDRO, and Sabina Alkire, Director of OPHI. Their presentations will be followed by a high-level discussion with Gonzalo Hernández Licona, Executive Secretary of CONEVAL in Mexico, and Nabeela Tunis, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Sierra Leone. The report and press release can be downloaded here. 

On Thursday 18 July, OPHI and UNDP will launch a handbook entitled How to Build a National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI): Using the MPI to inform the SDGs. This handbook, which will be available in full text online, provides detailed practical guidance for planners, policymakers and statisticians on how to build a technically rigorous and permanent national MPI. It also provides hard evidence on how countries around the world have designed and used their national MPIs to guide policy and to accelerate progress towards the SDGs. This event will bring together representatives from UNDP and OPHI with high-level officials from several countries, including Afghanistan, Colombia and Pakistan, to share their practical experiences in designing and using a national MPI for tracking progress in the SDGs, with interventions from the floor. 

Open to all. Places are available for both events. 

For more details and registration for the launch of the global MPI 2019 on 17 July click here. (Please RSVP by 16 July). Event title: 2019 Multidimensional Poverty Index: Illuminating Inequalities. Date: Wednesday 17 July. Timings: 1.30-3pm; Registration begins at 1.15pm EDT. Location: Japan Society, 333 E 47th St, New York (located on E 47th St between 1st and 2nd Ave). Recording of live stream link: here. 

For more details and registration for the launch of the Handbook on 18 July click here. (If you do not have a security pass, you must RSVP by 14 July). Event title: Leaving no one behind: Using a multidimensional approach to eradicate poverty and monitor SDG progress at the national level. Date: Thursday 18 July. Timings: 1.15pm to 2.30pm; Registration begins at 1pm EDT. Location: Conference Rm 3, UN Secretariat, United Nations Headquarters, New York, NY 10017. Recording of live stream link: here.