? Go back to the main page of the Training on the Use of IFs to Model Impact of COVID-19 on the SDGs. Scroll down to the bottom to see information about the upcoming training sessions.
The training is structured in three courses, each consisting of four weekly sessions of one core session and three “office hours” sessions. The core session will be the main lesson of the course, delivered remotely from Pardee Center at Denver University via Zoom. It will be followed by three “office hours” weekly sessions, during which experts at Pardee Center will be on stand-by to assist UNDP staff with their deployment of IFs, and answer questions. Staff may enroll in each of the three courses independently. Recordings of all sessions will be posted in the Resources page.
Third training: COVID-19 Recovery Pathways - The SDG Push Scenario
First session: Tuesday 25 May 2021, 8:00-9:30 AM EDT | 2:00-3:30 PM CET
- Summary: This session will focus on an exploration and adaption of country-specific results from the Foundational Research Report using the International Futures (IFs) model. If you are unable to attend, you must watch the recording to participate in office hours (it will be posted on SparkBlue).
- Requirements:
- Make sure you have the IFs model installed on your computer. You should try to install IFs at least 48 hours before the training session because it is a large file where installation may require administrative privileges. Use the dedicated support channel if you encounter any issues!
- Download and browse the Foundational Research Report.
Second session: Wednesday 9 June 2021, 8:00-9:30 AM EDT | 2:00-3:30 PM CET
We hope that participants in the first training generate questions and ideas that they would like to pursue for the second session, including more deep-dive explorations of changing scenario parameters across aspects of the SDG Push scenario for particular countries and regions. We hope people share these questions in the Discussion Room!
At the end of the training participants should be able to use the IFs model to pull country and regional outputs from the model based on various scenarios presented in the recent UNDP/ Pardee publication, as well as make their own interventions in the model to create unique scenarios. While users will not be experts on all aspects of the tool, we hope that these trainings provide colleagues with a better sense of the kinds of modeling capabilities that they have access to as well as ideas about future use and research.
We will follow the training with additional support time for interested parties to go into more detail into how users can modify the SDG Push scenario to better match the context and goals of specific countries or regions.
We hope you participate in these discussions and look forward to seeing you online!
Pardee Center and UNDP SDG Integration teams
Find below information about previous trainings:
First training: COVID-19 Impact on the Economy and Poverty
Training course: 14 July 2020, from 9:00-10:30 AM EST
- Summary: This first session is the “foundational” training for this 4 week course. If you are unable to attend, you must watch the recording to participate in office hours.
- Requirements:
- Make sure you have the IFs model installed on your computer. You should try to install IFs at least 48 hours before the training session because it is a large file where installation may require administrative privileges. See installation instructions at https://www.sparkblue.org/download-ifs.
- Download the document template that we will use in the first training. This document includes boiler-plate information on the model as well as scenario assumptions. You will be guided through the steps to fill this document in with information that describes the effect of COVID-19 on:
- GDP growth
- GDP at market exchange rates
- GDP per capita at purchasing power parity
- Poverty across various income thresholds (in millions)
- Poverty across various income thresholds (as a percent of the total population)
Office hours: 21 July, 28 July, 4 August 2020 from 9:00-10:30 AM EST
We will follow the first training with additional support time for interested parties to go into more detail into issues presented in the first training.
- We will gather feedback from trainees on pressing questions and areas of further inquiry using the IFs system
- Office hours topics that could be covered, depending on interest
- Historical analysis using the 5,000 data series in the model
- Scenario analysis to teach users how to change underlying assumptions and create their own scenarios
- Use specialized displays in more detail including
- Sustainable Development Goals trends and tables
- Poverty level display across income categories
- Creating your own geographic groupings
- Creating your own indices in IFs
- State fragility and political risk
Second training: Government Finance
Training course: 15 September 2020, from 9:00-10:30 AM EST
- Summary: In this training users will learn more about how the IFs model represents government revenues and expenses. We will evaluate how a shock to GDP (like those being experienced now as a result of COVID-19) can impact these financial flows. Finally, we will create scenarios that increase direct cash transfers to lower-income workers simulating policies that have also been wide-spread since the COVID-19, exploring how this could both decrease poverty and further strain government finances.
- Requirements:
- Make sure you have the IFs model installed on your computer. You should try to install IFs at least 48 hours before the training session because it is a large file where installation may require administrative privileges. See installation instructions at https://www.sparkblue.org/download-ifs.
- Download the document template that we will use in the second training. This document includes boiler-plate information on the model as well as scenario assumptions. You will be guided through the steps to fill this document in with information that describes the effect of COVID-19 on government finance.
- If you were unable to attend the first training, you must watch the recording to participate in office hours (https://www.sparkblue.org/IFs/event/ifs-training-first-session).
Office hours: 22 September, 29 September, 6 October 2020 from 9:00-10:30 AM EST
We will follow the first training with additional support time for interested parties to go into more detail into issues presented in the second training.
- We will gather feedback from trainees on pressing questions and areas of further inquiry using the IFs system
- Office hours topics that could be covered, depending on interest.
- Potential topics include
- A more in-depth look at how government finance is handled in IFs
- An exploration of the data used to initialize government finance related variables in IFs
- Scenario analysis to teach users how to change underlying assumptions and create their own scenarios related to government finance
- Historical analysis using the 5,000 data series in the model
- Use specialized displays in more detail including
- Sustainable Development Goals trends and tables
- Poverty level display across income categories
- Creating your own geographic groupings
- Creating your own indices in IFs
- State fragility and political risk
As we move through the second course we will identify which issue area we will focus on for the third course, both of which will follow the structure outlined above. The topics we are discussing at this point are a) mortality (both direct from COVID-19 but also indirect through reduced economic activity; b) government fiscal systems; and c) patterns of trade and international relations.