PhD student Carolina Urrego-Sandoval co-authors UN report on Trade & Poverty

Carolina Urrego-Sandoval, Ph.D. student in International Political Economy (IPE) at the European and International Studies Department co-authored a new report for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Trade and Poverty Series. The Report title: “Integrating Trade into National Development Strategies and Plans: The Experience of African Least Developed Countries (LDCs)” is available here.

The Report is part of UNCTAD’s ongoing project “Strengthening the capacities of trade and planning ministries of selected Least Developed Countries to develop and implement trade strategies that are conducive to poverty reduction", coordinated by Prof. Amelia Santos-Paulino and in which Carolina has previously participated.

It examines the experiences of three African LDCs: Ethiopia, Lesotho, and Senegal in integrating trade policy issues and their impact into their national development strategies such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), Diagnostic Trade Integration Studies (DTIS), and national development plans (NDPs). It found that while they have strengthened efforts to integrate better trade into their national strategies, significant challenges remain, for instance concerning the inclusion of local stakeholders in the trade policy-making process and in addressing the social impacts of trade reforms on vulnerable groups, particularly women. Against this backdrop, the Report underscores the need for African LDCs to have a more systematic approach to trade policymaking than in the past to enhance their ability to better use trade in support of development. The Report also draws lessons from the experiences of these three countries for other LDCs.