The alarming current and future international context for 2023 has several fronts of profound implications for Cabo Verde:

• A potential global economic crisis: the whole world faces a slowdown with an instability in the financial system.
• Inequalities are growing and a cost-of-living crisis is rapidly evolving - affecting women and girls the most.
• A climate disaster of enormous proportions with a strong impact on a country like Cabo Verde. The commitment to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C is about to go up in smoke. Without further action, the world is heading for a 2.8°C increase.
• Conflict, violence, war, with profound implications of global reach, impact on global food and energy prices, trade and supply chains, including nuclear security issues with the world being closer to the nuclear apocalypse than even during the height of the cold war.

Despite important national efforts to mitigate the impact of these crisis, economic and social conditions are still recovering in Cabo Verde. Targeting lower income families will continue to be crucial in 2023. Cabo Verde plans to expand social protection measures and increase the minimum wage. However, considering pressures for fiscal consolidation due to the high public debt accumulated during the pandemic years, alternative sources of financing and external support will be crucial in 2023.

Considering this challenging, volatile and disruptive context, the UNCF 2023-2027, our new Cooperation Framework with Cabo Verde and the reference document for all strategic planning within the United Nations family, clearly establishing the three major strategic and priority areas to focus UN cooperation with the country. It is aligned with the country’s sustainable development priorities and vision reflected in the PEDS II, particularly with the challenge of eliminating extreme poverty by 2026 and reducing poverty, the main UN objective, concentrating efforts on the most vulnerable groups.

These three priority areas of focus are:

• Strengthen Human Talent and Social Capital.
• Inclusive Economic Transformation, Prosperity and just Transition to a healthy Environment.
• Transformative Governance and strengthen Territorial Cohesion.