Welcome to the IFs Training!
Join us to learn about the use of modeling tools to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the SDGs, in support of the effective socio-economic response to COVID-19
? If you participated in the recent training for Costa Rica and Peru (10 September), click here for the session recording and PPT presentation
How to get started?
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What is the International Futures (IFs) model?
International Futures (IFs) is an integrated modeling platform that can simulate development policy scenarios within and across key systems for 186 countries, producing forecasts of hundreds of variables and allowing users to create their own simulations. The tool has been used in a variety of contexts, producing policy-oriented research that helps analysts think about how the, past, present, and future connect, the likely path of development for the issue area in question, and then simulating alternative policy choices and uncertainties that may characterize future development.
In partnership with the Pardee Center for International Futures at Denver University, the UNDP SDG integration Team organized a training series on how to use the IFs tool to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the 2030 Agenda between July 2020 and June 2021. It followed the release of two flagship reports and a foundational research report featuring a scenario (‘SDG Push’) specially designed to explore a potential pathway for accelerated recovery through focused and targeted policy investments.
What are country-level applications? How can YOU use IFs?
Forecasting tools such as IFs may be helpful to countries in estimating the impact of COVID-19 on development trajectories, as well as model potential post-COVID-19 futures by building scenarios reflecting different policy choices and simulating how these may play out over time. The IFs platform offers the ability to contextualize the tool with specific drivers more relevant to a specific country, such as issues emerging from the socio-economic assessments.
By the end of the IFs training, you will:
- Be familiar with the IFs tool, its interface and features, and have gained practical experience in scenario design for the IFs tool.
- Know how to apply the IFs tool to run different scenarios simulating low to high levels of COVID-19 impact and potential recovery pathways, including tailoring the ‘SDG Push’ scenario for your country.
Who is this for?
This training is intended to provide Resident Representatives, CO Economists and any other interested UNDP staff and consultants, with the capacity to use the International Futures model effectively, and be able to run different scenarios simulating low to high levels of COVID-19 related mortality and GDP growth.
? Contact
For more information, please contact us at: data@undp.org.
This initiative builds on the First Training on the Use of the IFs Model (July-August 2020) which explored the IFs software environment and how this tool can be applied to address the impacts of COVID-19 in GDP and poverty. The Second Training on the Use of the IFs Model (September-October 2020) went into more detail on the impact of COVID-19 in government finances and financial flows, considering diminished government revenues as a consequence of disruptions to economic activities, consumption patterns, earnings and international assistance priorities, which in turn have affected governments’ budgets, social programmes and the sustained provision of public goods. The Third Training on the Use of the IFs Model (May-June 2021) explained the policy questions modeled in the ‘SDG Push’ scenario and the implications for COVID-19 recovery and unpack how the ‘SDG Push’ scenario can be adapted to national and regional contexts.
