Giving Compass' Take:

• United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will convene later this month to address issues in Latin America regarding sustainable development, finance, and SDGs.

• How can philanthropy help in supporting the implementation of the SDGs in Latin America?

• Read about the role of the private sector in Latin America.

In Latin America, tackling inequality and unemployment is critical to helping the 61 million people living in extreme poverty attain sustainable livelihoods and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, the executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, told Devex.

Later this month, ECLAC’s 33 member states will gather for their second sustainable development forum, aiming to give countries an opportunity to do some peer review and to help countries develop tools to both finance and implement the SDGs.

ECLAC, which houses the Statistical Conference of the Americas, is helping each country determine which of the 230 indicators they track, which ones will be the most important to track and how to improve national statistics systems. Much of ECLAC’s work is also focused on helping countries implement the SDGs.

So ECLAC is looking to help the region more equitably leverage improvements in trade, and increased funds that come through trade into programs that truly benefit a community.

Read the full article about ECLAC addressing problems in Latin America by Adva Saldinger at Devex.