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World leaders will gather New York later this month for the United Nations General Assembly where they will reflect on the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs as they are commonly known. They will face an unsettling truth: according to the 2024 Sustainable Development Goals Report, only 17% of SDGs are on track, with 48% showing minimal or moderate progress. The setbacks are largely attributed to a range of factors including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate crises, and rising geopolitical tensions. Developing countries will argue that we are in this grave situation because of lack of financial commitment from the developed world and an international financial system that does not act in their best interest.

For the 45 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) or the world's poorest and most vulnerable countries, the situation is even more dire.  Economic growth in these countries lags behind that of developed nations, and other developing countries. Shocks including those caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing climate emergency have reversed years of progress including the reduction of  income inequality. Slow and oftentimes negative growth poses a significant threat to their ability to achieve the SDGs and decrease the increasing wealth gap between the poorest and most vulnerable countries on the planet and the rest of the world.  

The challenges for LDCs extend beyond economic growth. In education, despite rising global literacy rates, UNESCO reports that in LDCs only around 60% of children complete primary education. In healthcare, maternal mortality rates remain at 430 deaths per 100,000 live births in low-income countries, a significant contrast to the 13 deaths per 100,000 live births in high-income nations. Additionally, in agriculture, a key focus of SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), LDCs score only 2.6 in achieving sustainable agriculture, compared to 4.1 in Europe and Northern America. 

Despite these major hurdles, there is clear one bright spot.  This has to do with the role that science, technology and innovation can continue to play in helping LDCs and developing countries across the world in accelerating their development. This is why, for the first time, the international community will be celebrating the 16^th  September 2024 as the inaugural International Day of Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) for the South. This day highlights the vital role of STI in driving development and closing the SDG gaps, especially for LDCs. 

Several promising examples of STI in LDCs show how technology can uplift communities. In Rwanda, drone technology has revolutionized the healthcare sector, delivering over 20,000 emergency medical supplies to remote areas within minutes. In Bangladesh, mobile financial services have brought banking to seventy million people, including marginalized women and rural communities, fostering economic empowerment. In Ethiopia, digital education platforms have provided over three million students with access to quality education. Similarly, Pastor Help, a tech start-up founded in Chad by Idriss Adoum Idriss, equips farmers and pastoralists with GPS tracking and tools for livestock management, reducing livestock losses by 30% and boosting productivity by 20%. 

However, these success stories are isolated, individual and ad hoc. The first step toward harnessing STI's full potential is to identify a core set of such initiatives, learn from them and seek to replicate as quickly as possible.  Secondly, we must identify low-cost and high impact projects and solutions leveraging lessons and experiences including from the Global South. Thirdly, the issue of finance for LDCs must be addressed.  LDCs are in the worst possible situation across developing countries in terms of getting the resources in the quantity required to give their people the opportunity for a better life. Developed countries, well-established economies in the Global South and the international system must do better. It has already been proven that STI can help  fast-track development in the world鈥檚 poorest and most vulnerable countries. Consequently, a  Global Fund for Science, Technology and Innovation is urgently needed for the world鈥檚 poorest and most vulnerable countries. Let us give life and meaning to the International Day for Science, Technology and Innovation for the South.

Deodat Maharaj is the Managing Director of the United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries and can be contacted at: deodat.maharaj@un.org