Albania
 ITU joined and signed the previous UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) and the 2022-2026 UNSDCF, and engaged itself to provide support in a range of areas, upon the need of the UNCT in order to achieve defined priorities. Potential areas include: ICT infrastructure leading towards universal access to internet and ICT services, digital skills assessment and national strategy, digital accessibility, e-agriculture, e-health, circular economy and implementation of smart cities, ICT centric innovation ecosystem development, CSIRT, child online protection, digitization of governmental services, capacity and fostering equal opportunities for girls and women in STEM sector. ITU Office for Europe follows regular meetings of the UN Country Teams. ITU Office for Europe also took part of the 2021 EU Annual Report.
The Digital Development Country Profile for Albania has been finalized in February 2022 and a special dedicated session will be held in 2022, with a special focus on providing guidance to the UN Agencies members of the innovation output of the UNSDCF. The Digital Development Country Profile will also laid the basis for the position paper on Outcome 2 of the UNSDCF “Economic Growth, Innovation and Climate Change". The country profile is available here. In addition, ITU is also supporting NAECCS in ensuring a safe online environment for chilren through the ITU Global Project on Child Online Protection. ITU, UNEP and UNITAR are also jointly implementing the project 'E-Waste Monitor for the Western Balkans', which thus also covers Bosnia and Herzegovina. |
Bosnia and Herzegovina
In the follow up to the coordination with the UN Resident Coordinator, ITU will be joining the UNCT meeting to provide an overview of its work and intended support at the country level. ITU has joined the joint work plan for the period 2020-2025. ITU will be formally integrating the UNCT in September 2022 during the Joint Steering Committee meeting. Upon this meeting, the UNSDCF may be revised to integrate ITU should changes be feasible. The first version of the Digital Development Country Profile for Bosnia and Herzegovina will be finalized in September 2022. ITU is currently coordinating with UNDP in Bosnia and Herzegovina to support the country on digital services and e-governance, through leveraging the GovStack solutions. In addition, ITU is proving technical assistance to the country in enabling broadband mapping systems at the national level. In that regard, ITU is also coordinating with UNICEF in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Connectivity in Education, aligning efforts of both agencies (as UNICEF work on school mapping). ITU, UNEP and UNITAR are also jointly implementing the project 'E-Waste Monitor for the Western Balkans', which thus also covers Bosnia and Herzegovina.
|
Georgia
 ITU joined the Joint Work Plan of the UNCT and takes active participation in the regular UNCT meetings. ITU contributed to the 2021 Common Country Analysis (CCA) and 2022 CCA. The “Digital Development Country Profile" for Georgia, available here, specifically focuses on providing the knowledge basis to the UNCT in the context of rolling out the UN Roadmap for Digital Cooperation in Georgia. A special “Digital Transformation Session" has been held at the end of September with the UNCT to present the findings of the Digital Development Country Profile, with a special emphasis on the remaining challenges to be addressed. The objective of this session was to pave the way for collaborative work advancing the national digital agenda. ITU, together with UNESCO Institute, finalized the Digital Innovation Profile for Georgia, with a focus on Artificial Intelligence, providing evidence-based country-specific recommendations. As a next step, the National Strategy for AI will be developed with the engagement of the UNCT. |
Moldova ITU signed the UNSDCF and takes active participations in the regular UNCT meeting. ITU has joined the Interagency Disability Inclusion Task Force. Other areas reported as of interest are the following: 5G implementation, regulatory field, cybersecurity. ITU is currently coordinating with UNDP Moldova to advance digital transformation at the national level, and have joined forces to elaborate the “Digital Transformation Compact" providing a condensed knowledge of the components and related recommendations leading to digitally transform the country. The Digital Transformation Compact is available here.
ITU and the UNCT have finalized the elaboration of the Digital Development Country Profile for Moldova which is available here. |
Montenegro
ITU joined the UN Country Team in February 2021. While operationally, ITU started to provide inputs to the work of the UNCT and to coordinate all operations in the country, ITU joined the UNSDCF for the period 2023-2027. A series of actions are planned to be undertaken with the members of the UNCT, including those focusing on digital accessibility, child online protection, gender, connectivity. ITU is planning to hold a special coordination session on “Digital Transformation in Montenegro" in 2022, based on the Digital Development Country profile for Montenegro (upcoming). This session will aim to identify the key priorities related to digitalization and digitization processes in the country and the potential for collaboration among UN agencies on the digital component. Based on the 2021 Common Country Analysis, the session will put a special emphasis on: ensuring resilient ICT infrastructure, digital skills, ICT Accessibility for persons with disabilities, digital inclusion, and innovation. ITU, UNEP and UNITAR are also jointly implementing the project 'E-Waste Monitor for the Western Balkans', which thus also covers Bosnia and Herzegovina.
|
North Macedonia
ITU joined the UN Country Team. Within the framework of the 2021 UNCT Retreat, ITU held a special session on Digital Transformation and Innovation, providing a platform for all UNCT members to jointly reflect and strengthen digital components in the UNCT strategy towards achieving defined 2021 priorities. Prospects for specific actions might consider eHealth, connectivity, digital accessibility, digitalskills, digital inclusion (youth and gender), digitalization of all governmental services. Additionally, the office takes active participation in the regular UNCT meetings and took part of the Common Country Analysis for the period 2022.
The ITU Office for Europe also took part of the national consultation on the future of education with North Macedonian teachers on 29 June 2022, which was held as part of a series of national consultation in the run up to the UN Education Summit. During this consultation, the ITU Digital Skills Assessment of North Macedonia was presented and discussed, in particular the findings and recommendations related to enhancing the digital skills for teachers.
The ITU Office for Europe is currently coordinating with the EU Delegation in North Macedonia, with the support of the UN Resident Coordinator Office, on supporting the country to advance the digital skills (in particular for the private sector and teachers) and child online protection agendas, and more generally the digital development agenda of the country. This may include joint technical assistance with other UN agencies and leveraging of the donors community. ITU, UNEP and UNITAR are also jointly implementing the project 'E-Waste Monitor for the Western Balkans', which thus also covers Bosnia and Herzegovina. |
Serbia
ITU joined the UNSDCF for the period 2021-2025 and engaged itself to provide support in a range of areas, upon the need of the UNCT in order to achieve defined 2021 priorities. ITU Office for Europe took part of the 2021 EU Annual Report for Serbia and 2022 CCA. ITU is currently coordinating with UNOPS in Serbia to collaborate on a new project on 'Towards making cities smart and sustainable'. Potential other areas of support include: digital agriculture transformation in the country, e-health, digital skills development for creating equal opportunities for girls and women in STEM sector, the national assessment on digital skills, capacity building to ensure access to internet for all, digital skills and digital literacy, child online protection, fostering the development of the digital innovation ecosystem, ICT infrastructure leading towards universal access to internet and ICT services, digital accessibility, and digitization of governmental services. ITU, UNEP and UNITAR are also jointly implementing the project 'E-Waste Monitor for the Western Balkans', which thus also covers Bosnia and Herzegovina. |
Türkiye
In line with the coordination with the UN Resident Coordinator, ITU Office for Europe will be providing support to the UN Country Team upon request and need. Briefings for the UNCT on digital transformation are going to be held. The Digital Development Country Profile of Türkiye is currently being developed.
|
Ukraine
In the follow up to the coordination with the UN Resident Coordinator. Europe Office continues to contribute to the UNCT work and meetings and participated in the 2022 Common Country Analysis. In that sense, ITU contributed to the UN Environmental Forum in Ukraine through the participation of a Youth Representative of the ITU Generation Connect – Europe (CG-EUR) Youth Group, to convey, among others, the messages of the Youth Declaration chapter on Environment. The Office for Europe also took part of the UN Policy Paper on Climate Change (to be published). ITU is also coordinating with UNDP Ukraine to advance digital transformation in the country. In addition, the Digital Development Country Profile was finalized in early February 2022. The Country Profile is currently being updated to capture the latest development, with the support of the UN Digital Transformation Group for Europe and Central Asia.
|
