Universal Postal Union (UPU)
Q1. How have the COVID-19 pandemic and the current food, energy and financing crises changed the priorities of your organization?
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the UPU to prioritize strengthening and maintaining the interconnectivity of the international postal network and the network resilience. In order to react to the disruptions to the global postal supply chain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the UPU has sought to identify possible ways to mitigate its impact to the international postal exchanges such as the use of cargo flights as an alternative to passenger flights, and cooperation with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the World Customs Organization (WCO).
Acceleration of the diversification of the products and services portfolio of the postal sector has become another priority of the UPU, as the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the decline of the volume of international letter post, while increasing the volume of international parcel items driven by the e-commerce during the stay-at-home period. In order to better serve the global society and achieve the SDGs, the UPU has been leading the way to strengthen Posts' value proposition by proposing alternative ways of leveraging and mobilizing the existing postal infrastructure around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has unquestionably proved the ubiquity, value-add, and resilience of the postal sector as a provider of the essential services to the society.
In addition, although this is not exactly the change of the UPU’s priorities, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digitalization of the UPU, member countries and the designated operators, which enabled the UPU to reach out to member countries and engage with them online more seamlessly and frequently.
Q2. How has your organization supported Member States to accelerate their recovery from COVID-19 and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda? How has your organization cooperated with other UN system organizations in these efforts to achieve coherence and synergies? Please highlight up to three high-impact initiatives, especially those that address interlinkages among the SDGs and involves interagency collaboration. Concrete initiatives might be selected to be spotlighted during relevant intergovernmental meetings.
| Initiative | Pandemic Recovery Guide for Postal Sector |
| Partners | - |
| Relevant SDGs | SDG 3, SDG 9, SDG 11 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | All |
| Description | Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many postal operators have had to halt their international mail service and interrupt or limit certain postal services and products. In response, this guide was created to support Posts, mainly in developing countries, in their recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. It contains best practice information that is broadly applicable to postal business continuity in the event of other pandemic crises. The recommendation in the guide are rooted in good practices and closely linked to the business continuity planning process, setting out structured actions to undertake before, during and after the crisis. The goal is to provide an easy-to use, comprehensive package of basic information to assist designated operators in business continuity plan, and more specifically in the development of pandemic recovery plans and business resumption plans. |
| Website | https://www.upu.int/UPU/media/upu/files/postalSolutions/capacityBuildin… |
| Initiative | Post4Health |
| Partners | UPU/WHO, Japan MIC, Le Groupe La Poste France |
| Relevant SDGs | SDG 3, SDG 17 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | Argentina and Namibia |
| Description | As a multi-stakeholder facility, Post4Health provides a flexible platform for donors to increase synergies and have a greater impact. In order to operate, Post4Health relies on voluntary funding from governments, national Posts, the private sector and development partners. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the support that postal operators can give to communities, national economies and public authorities in uncertain times, making the Post an essential service during lockdowns. Aside from core services, Postal operators have once again proven the postal network’s value as a key infrastructure by delivering a full range of new social and economic services, including health-related services such as distribution of tests, personal protection equipment and medicines. |
| Website | https://www.upu.int/en/Partner-with-us/Where-we-need-your-support/Post4… |
Q3. Has your organization published or is it planning to publish any analytical work or guidance note or toolkits to guide and support recovery efforts from COVID-19 while advancing full implementation of SDGs at national, regional and global levels?
Please select up to three high-impact resources to highlight, especially those that address interlinkages among the SDGs. Selected resources will be highlighted to inform relevant intergovernmental meetings.
| Resource | Pandemic Recovery Guide for Postal Sector |
| Publishing entity/entities | UPU |
| Relevant SDGs | SDG 3, SDG 9, SDG 11 |
| Target audience | All member states including Designated operators |
| Description | Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many postal operators have had to halt their international mail service and interrupt or limit certain postal services and products. In response, this guide was created to support Posts, mainly in developing countries, in their recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. It contains best practice information that is broadly applicable to postal business continuity in the event of other pandemic crises. The recommendation in the guide are rooted in good practices and closely linked to the business continuity planning process, setting out structured actions to undertake before, during and after the crisis. The goal is to provide an easy-to use, comprehensive package of basic information to assist designated operators in business continuity plan, and more specifically in the development of pandemic recovery plans and business resumption plans. |
| Website | https://www.upu.int/UPU/media/upu/files/postalSolutions/capacityBuildin… |
| Language | English, French, Spanish |
| Resource | UPU Guide to Postal Social Services |
| Publishing entity/entities | UPU |
| Relevant SDGs | SDG 3, SDG 4, SDG 5, SDG 7, SDG 8, SDG 9, SDG 10, SDG 11, SDG 12, SDG 13, SDG 15 |
| Target audience | Governments, postal regulatory agencies, UPU designated postal operators, intergovernmental organizations |
| Description | The global postal system is strategically well placed to tackle many of society’s greatest challenges, yet Posts are still underutilized as a social development partner. The evidence summarized in this guide reveals the variety of social services that Posts currently offer and outlines the case for further diversification, innovation, investment and partnership. Government and corporate commitments to sustainability give Posts a mandate to support social development. Many Posts are therefore transforming into broad social service providers, acting as an essential partner for governments, NGOs and multilateral agencies seeking ways to achieve the SDGs. Postal social services are defined as services that are explicitly designed to convey direct benefits to society, are implemented regularly and reliably and are broadly accessible – helping to meet key sustainability challenges including reducing poverty and inequality, meeting the needs of an ageing population, supporting an increasingly mobile society, and recovering from the broad impacts of COVID-19. |
| Website | https://www.upu.int/en/Publications/Postal-Social-Services/UPU-Guide-to… |
| Language | French and English; Executive Summary available additionally in Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese |
| Resource | 2022 Postal Development Report |
| Publishing entity/entities | UPU |
| Relevant SDGs | SDG 1, SDG 8, SDG 9, SDG 13, SDG 17 |
| Target audience | postal policy makers and designated operators in UPU member countries |
| Description | The 2022 Postal Development Report highlights the key dimensions and challenges of sustainable postal development through a performance evaluation of 172 countries in 2021 after applying the Integrated Index for Postal Development (2IPD) methodology. The 2022 report pays a particular attention to decarbonization of postal and delivery activities around the world and how 2IPD data can contribute to a better measurement of the postal carbon footprint over time. More broadly, it also shows the resilience of postal services during the pandemic and calls for urgent investments in the postal infrastructure of many developing countries to support the development of the digital economy and e-commerce in the post-pandemic era. |
| Website | https://www.upu.int/en/Publications/2IPD/Postal-Development-Report-2022 |
| Language | English |
Q4. How has your organization engaged with stakeholder groups to support SDG implementation and COVID-19 recovery at national, regional and global levels? Please provide main highlights, including any lessons learned. For example, what has worked particularly well as a model for effective stakeholder engagement? If your organization has established multi-stakeholder partnership(s) in this regard, please describe them (name, partners involved, relevant SDGs, Member States benefiting from the partnership) and provide links to relevant websites for more information.
| Partnership | Partnership with UNI Global Union |
| Partners | UNI Global Union, an association of workers’ unions in the postal and logistics sector |
| Relevant SDGs | SDG 3, SDG 4, SDG 5, SDG 8, SDG 9, SDG 10, SDG 11 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | All |
| Description | This year the UPU and UNI renewed its Cooperation Agreement, pledging to work together on issues affecting postal workers. Key areas of collaboration include business diversification, climate change and gender equality. |
| Website | https://uniglobalunion.org/news/uni-signs-agreement-universal-postal-un… |
| Partnership | Sustainable Postal Services Group |
| Partners | 59 Designated postal operators from UPU member countries, plus 3 external stakeholders from the UPU Consultative Committee |
| Relevant SDGs | All, but with particular focus on SDG 13 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | All |
| Description | This group guides the implementation of the UPU’s sustainable development agenda for the current cycle. It includes a large number of representatives from nationally designated postal operators, to ensure that the work of the UPU accounts for the practical challenges of postal operations. |
| Website | N/A |
| Partnership | Increased partnership with the private sector |
| Partners | Designated postal operators from UPU member countries, stakeholders from the UPU’s Consultative Committee |
| Relevant SDGs | All, but with particular focus on SDG17 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | All |
| Description | As part of its commitment to continual reforms and to ensure that the postal sector remains in the forefront of socio-economic development, the UPU is taking measures to broaden and deepen its engagements with the private sector. As a result of this process, a range of private sector actors – from logistics, IT, transportation, and other sectors – are now a part of the UPU’s governance structure. This enables innovation, cross-fertilization of ideas across sector, and fosters an inclusive approach to standard setting. |
| Website | N/A |
Q5. In the 2019 SDG Summit declaration (GA Resolution 74/4), Member States outlined ten priority areas for accelerated action in SDG implementation. Please highlight any major integrated and innovative policies or initiatives that your organization may have adopted in these ten priority areas:
5.1. leaving no one behind;
Inclusion is a core sustainable development principle for the UPU, supported by several recent areas of work. In 2021, the UPU unanimously approved its Abidjan Congress resolution C 10/2021 to promote “gender equality and the empowerment of women at the UPU and in the postal sector”. The UPU is currently drafting an agency-wide gender policy. The UPU is working currently to progress towards “meet” or “exceed” the UN-SWAP performance indicators by 2025. The UPU promotes activities to support designated postal operators in improving GEWE in the postal sector. In addition, the UPU Guide to Postal Social Services, published in 2019, is currently being revised (see question 3). This outlines practical actions that postal operators can undertake to support the social aspects of the SDGs.
• Over the last five years the UPU has delivered a range of technical assistance programs that aim to deepen financial inclusion through postal channels in our member countries. These multi-year initiatives strengthen the capacity of postal operators to provide new financial services through digital channels to a range of special interest groups, including youth, women, and micro-entrepreneurs.
• Connect.post is an initiative of the UPU to connect every post office to the Internet by 2030, to bring meaningful digital inclusion of businesses and citizens in the 650,000 communities that Posts serve.
5.2. mobilizing adequate and well-directed financing;
N/A
5.3. enhancing national implementation;
Practical actions to enhance national implementation include the direct engagement with national governments and their Designated Postal Operators. In November 2022 the UPU held a webinar on Environmental and Social Sustainable Development, for postal operators in the Asia-Pacific region, and also gave a seminar on the same topic to students at the Asian-Pacific Postal College. The UPU also participated in a panel discussion and presentation at COP27, to support Egypt Post in its implementation of climate mitigation and resilience projects.
5.4. strengthening institutions for more integrated solutions;
Quality of Service Fund: The UPU’s Quality of Service Fund (QSF) is a funding platform for developing countries to implement projects that aim at improving quality of service of the global postal network in general and focusing on strengthening the domestic postal network and infrastructure of beneficiary countries. The UPU has further strengthened the QSF Common Fund by creating a sub account for LDCs. This sub account provides additional funding stream targeted to assist LDCs which are the countries most in need of assistance to implement quality of service improvement projects.
Financial Inclusion Technical Assistance Facility: As mentioned in 5.1, the UPU has a multi-country, multi-year technical assistance facility that enables postal operators strengthen their inclusive financial services products. With multi-donor funding, this facility has already delivered solutions and support to Posts in 19 countries.
Digitalization of national postal services in Africa: Study on improving the digitalization of national postal services in Africa conducted for the AUC (with the support from Agence française de Développement and Expertise France). It included an assessment of the digital capabilities of posts and their enabling environment in 10 African countries, and a consolidation of the findings and recommendations into a continental report.
Cybersecurity: Cybersecurity services provided by the UPU .POST project helped strengthen the cyber resilience of national postal services, especially those providing support for SME inclusion in e-commerce through national ecommerce platforms.
5.5. bolstering local action;
N/A
5.6. reducing disaster risk and building resilience;
Since 2010, the UPU has raised awareness on disaster risk management among member countries and reinforced its emergency assistance through the UPU Emergency and Solidarity Fund (ESF). The UPU has also developed a guide to disaster risk management for the postal sector, to provide a standardized management model and share knowledge through workshops in each region.
The technical assistance for disaster preparedness is the UPU’s main tool to support member countries. Since 2018, the UPU has selected 29 technical assistance projects at a total cost of 1,730,300 CHF.
In 2018, a training course for capacity building on disaster risk management was launched through the UPU’s platform. In addition, two onsite workshops were conducted in 2019 for the Asia-Pacific and Caribbean regions. Four online workshops were conducted in 2021 for English-speaking and French-speaking countries in Africa, the Arab region and Latin America.
The UPU supports member countries after disasters through the Emergency and Solidarity Fund. Within the ESF, the UPU has launched 19 projects since 2013.
The UPU will create a certification methodology to reinforce and standardize the framework for disaster risk management in the postal sector. The programme will support postal sector players, with the focus on designated operators (DOs), in their progress towards resilient operations.
5.7. solving challenges through international cooperation and enhancing the global partnership;
• Opening Up of the UPU (See section 4) • Post4Health in partnership with WHO (See section 2) • The UPU contributed to the development of several national e-commerce strategies and e-trade readiness assessments in cooperation with UNCTAD.
5.8. harnessing science, technology and innovation with a greater focus on digital transformation for sustainable development;
• As part of its policy-focused, actionable research agenda, the UPU has carried out a study on the potential use of distributed ledger technologies (DLT) and blockchains in the postal sector. The aim of this study was to assess relevant initiatives in the UN and postal communities; identify mechanisms through which Posts can use DLTs to improve cross-border trade and delivery of inclusive financial services; and prepare blueprints for pilot project implementation.
• Series of innovation activities to harness the value of postal data for a sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development.
• The UPU’s International Bureau’s Postal Technology Centre delivers, at cost, UPU technology solutions to support the digitalization of the logistic operations of the global postal supply chain. These solutions generate data used in; delivery route optimization, return logistics, customs clearance and machine learning platforms, with the objective to reduce the carbon footprint of the UPU’s designated postal operators. The solutions are targeted for use in the developing and least developing countries, in so doing they provide digital platforms for their postal operators to contribute to the SDGs 8, 9 and 17.
5.9. investing in data and statistics for the SDGs;
In partnership with UN Global Pulse, the UPU has demonstrated the value of postal big data for better measuring key development indicators related to the monitoring of SDG goals. The publication “The International Postal Network and Other Global Flows as Proxies for National Wellbeing” is a good illustration of the measurement power of postal data in today’s digital economies (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.01559…).
5.10. strengthening the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).
N/A
Q6. Following the adoption of the 2022 Ministerial Declaration, please highlight any major integrated and innovative policies or initiatives that your organization may have adopted related to the below, if applicable:
6.1 Member States encouraged "the United Nations system and all relevant actors to take advantage of emerging technologies and their applications, as appropriate, in order to maximize impact and effectiveness in data analysis and collection and stress the need to bridge the digital gap among and within countries" (Paragraph 86)
Abidjan Congress resolution C 17: Climate change has been the key environmental focus for the UPU’s sustainable development activities over the past decade. The UPU is currently scaling up its ambition and actions to support the transition to low-emission and climate-resilient postal operations. In 2021, the UPU unanimously approved its Abidjan Congress resolution C 17 to calculate the baseline GHG emissions of the UPU postal network and set voluntary targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by postal designated operators/entities; to provide technical assistance, knowledge sharing and technical cooperation on carbon offsetting, climate finance and climate adaptation measures; and to develop standards for carbon-neutral cross-border international postal services.
The UPU Online Solution for Carbon Analysis and Reporting (OSCAR): Developed in 2016, the OSCAR provides designated postal operators with an online tool to measure and analyze the carbon footprint from their operations. This enables them to engage in climate mitigation and adaptation activities, and to gain better insight into their operations. It is currently made available to all UPU designated postal operators free of charge.
Operational readiness for e-commerce (ORE): The UPU International Bureau decided to implement regional cooperation projects to coordinate and improve quality of service through an integrated postal supply chain. This approach aims to help DOs modernize operational processes and use all available IT standardized tools and E2E systems to implement operational solutions, which meet e-commerce requirements. By improving E2E reliable delivery performance, and by providing consumers with more visibility through EDI message exchanges and more customer-oriented solutions (delivery options, data capture at source, returns solutions, simple customer services), postal operators will contribute to further growth of the e-commerce market.
Digital readiness for e-commerce (DRE): Digitalization is changing supply chains and how customers buy online. These innovations are fostering considerable change in Posts’ strategic objectives by requiring them to increase their predictability, transparency, security and efficiency to meet new customer requirements. In this context, the UPU International Bureau has developed capacity-building and technical assistance projects to coordinate and improve the digital capacity and capability of Posts. The integrated approach of these projects aims to help DOs modernize digital strategies, use all available digital tools and implement digital solutions, which meet e-commerce requirements.
Payment readiness for e-commerce (PRE): Digitalization is changing the mindset of customers and the culture of purchasing. These innovations are fostering considerable change in Posts’ strategic objectives by requiring them to increase their offer to meet customer requirements. In this context, the UPU International Bureau has developed capacity-building and technical assistance projects to coordinate and improve Posts’ postal payment services offering and their capability of helping DOs modernize their payment strategies and implement integrated electronic/ digital payment solutions to meet e-commerce requirements. The objective is to capitalize on key existing payment service providers and solutions and identify possible additional future capacity needed to achieve PRE. The ultimate goal is to ensure that online shoppers have suitable e-commerce payment infrastructure to develop their business through Posts. PRE aims to enable Posts to create a payment gateway/platform in line with recent trends and interfaced with online e-commerce platforms via a suite of innovative UPU standards and IT tools. The project offers, through activities included in four key pillars, support for DOs to implement a reliable and affordable integrated quality payment portfolio to meet the needs of customers and e-retailers.
6.2 Member States specifically called upon the UN system "to work with the newly established United Nations Food Systems Coordination Hub, hosted by FAO, to support Governments to develop and strengthen SDG-based national pathways for sustainable food systems transformation" (Paragraph 128)
N/A
Q7. The 2023 SDG Summit is expected to provide political leadership, guidance and recommendations for sustainable development and follow-up and review progress in the implementation of sustainable development commitments and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, including through national and regional consultations, which will mark the beginning of a new phase of accelerated progress towards the SDGs. In the lead up to the 2023 SDG Summit, please provide your organization’s recommendations on how to overcome challenges to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of the SDGs, taking into account the thematic reviews and voluntary national reviews conducted to date.
The UPU’s recommendations are as follows:
• Governments should revisit, repurpose, and reuse the existing postal networks to deliver on a range of public policy responses to meet their SDG obligations. The postal sector’s potential value proposition is significantly larger than how most governments recognize. The postal sector has been constantly exploring innovative ways of using its products, services and networks to achieve the SDGs. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has proven how the postal network can rapidly repurposed to achieve public health policy objectives. This has underlined the role of postal operators in supporting communities, economies and policymakers during uncertain times. Similarly, in the context of digital and green transformation, there are many solutions that the sector can offer.
• A whole-of-Government approach is of utmost importance to achieve the SDGs. Aside from core public services, cross-ministerial collaborations can leverage the postal sector’s vast network to deliver a full range of new social and economic services. This can include health-related services, education, community inclusion, access to government services, financial services, and digital transformation responses such as digital public infrastructure. National authorities ought to work together with their respective postal network to identify value-added collaborations and present a unified response to tackle cross-cutting issues.