United Nations Development Programme

Strategic Plan
2022–2025

Foreword

This is a critical moment for the world, and for development. A planetary emergency and the pandemic have depleted the world’s natural resources and widened poverty and inequality. Up to one billion people could be living in extreme poverty by 2030 unless we seize this opportunity for a decisive push towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

But this is also a moment of choice: an opportunity to learn from our experience, to do things differently, to aspire to greater shared goals. This new Strategic Plan 2022-2025 describes how UNDP intends to work together with our partners to deliver what’s required of us in these extraordinary times. Collaborating across the revitalized UN system and beyond for stronger collective results. Applying integrated approaches aimed at transformative change. Supporting governments and communities to rebound from COVID-19 and build forward better.

The Strategic Plan is grounded in UNDP’s continued commitment to eradicating poverty, accompanying countries in their pathways towards the SDGs and working towards the Paris Agreement. It envisions bold goals, making a difference to millions of lives, including through tackling multidimensional poverty, energy access, elections participation and development financing. It explains how UNDP will develop our six signature solutions – powered by digitalisation, innovation and development financing – for greater impact. It sets out practical steps towards becoming an even more agile and anticipatory organisation, investing further in our people, business model and operational excellence.

The Plan describes how the combination of our deep local experience and our rich global network, tapping into countries’ knowledge and shared experience, delivers value to our partners. How we will foster innovation and creativity to help change systems and tackle the hardest challenges standing between us and the SDGs. All this to scale and accelerate progress towards green, inclusive transitions that empower every last person through greater opportunity and resilience.

The Plan is the result of extensive collaboration with our many partners. I am immensely grateful to them, and to all our UNDP teams, whose contributions have helped produce a Plan that truly reflects the diversity of all the countries, communities and people whom UNDP serves.

I invite you to read the Plan itself and learn more. With your support and collaboration, together UNDP can work with countries to expand people’s choices for a fairer, sustainable future, to build the world envisioned by Agenda 2030 with planet and people in balance.

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Achim Steiner
Achim Steiner
Administrator
United Nations Development Programme
Achim Steiner signature

Strategic context

Advancing the future of development

The challenge of reaching Agenda 2030 was already significant, even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Compounded by a climate emergency, political polarization and challenged multilateralism, continued conflicts and forced displacement, the number of people living in poverty rose in 2020 for the first time since 1998 by an estimated 119-124 million. Inequalities are growing, and the traditional social contract is no longer working for many.

Today’s development challenges are dynamic, interconnected puzzles of multidimensional risk that require systemic solutions. Multilateral cooperation is vital in addressing these shared challenges that cross boundaries of geography and time.

No country has yet achieved the combination of very high human development with a light ecological footprint. The impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss are growing. In this complex, uncertain landscape, the SDGs and the Paris Agreement offer clarity of purpose and a way forward.

In the next four years, UNDP will work with countries to make a difference to millions of lives:

Helping
100 million people

to escape multidimensional poverty

Supporting
500 million people

to gain access to clean energy

Supporting
800 million people

to participate in elections, many for the first time

Promoting
over US$1 trillion

of public expenditure and private capital investment in the SDGs

What We Do

UNDP’s development offer

UNDP’s work is summarized in the Strategic Plan by this “3x6x3” framework.

This combination will help UNDP continue to deliver on what it does best: integrated development solutions driven by country priorities.

3
Directions of Change
Structural transformation, leaving no-one behind, building resilience
6
Signature Solutions
Poverty and inequality, governance, resilience, environment, energy, gender equality
3
Enablers
Strategic innovation, digitalisation, development financing
3

Directions of change

Guiding people and planet beyond 2025

During this Plan and beyond, UNDP will be accompanying countries towards the SDGs through country programmes, driven by national development choices, and with poverty eradication at their core.

To this end, we support countries in pursuing three directions of systemic change:

Structural transformation

including green, inclusive and digital transitions: working with countries to effect change in systems and structures that shape a country’s sustainable development

Leaving no-one behind

a rights-based approach centered on empowerment, inclusion, equity, human agency and human development

Building resilience

strengthening countries and institutions to prevent, mitigate and respond to crisis, conflict, natural disasters, climate and social and economic shocks

6

Signature Solutions

Supercharged for greater results

Learning from the experience of the last four years, UNDP will:

  • Prioritize where country demands are greatest
  • Focus on UNDP’s strongest capabilities and role within the UN system
  • Refine and develop the signature solutions for greater impact and scale
  • Deliver integrated solutions through a systems approach
Poverty and inequality

Tackling inequality of opportunities by investing in the enhanced capabilities people need to move above the poverty line and keep moving forwards.

Governance

Helping countries address emerging complexities by “future-proofing” governance systems through anticipatory approaches and better management of risk.

Resilience

Supporting countries and communities in building resilience to diverse shocks and crises, including conflict, climate change, disasters and epidemics.

Environment

Putting nature and the environment at the heart of national economies and planning; helping governments protect, manage and value their natural assets.

Energy

Increasing energy access for those furthest behind and accelerating the transition to renew-able energy.

Gender equality

Confronting the structural obstacles to gender equality and strengthening women’s economic empowerment and leadership.

3

Enablers

Maximising development impact

Enablers are capacities and approaches to scale-up development impact for country partners and within UNDP’s own systems:

Digitalisation

Supporting countries to build inclusive, ethical and sustainable digital societies

Strategic innovation

Empowering governments and communities to enhance the performance of entire systems, making them adaptive and resilient

Development financing

Partnering with governments and the private sector to align public and private capital flows with the SDGs and mobilise finance at scale

Global partnerships

Forging connections for the SDGs

Delivering results at the speed and scale needed to reach Agenda 2030 depends on close partnerships with a diverse range of actors working towards common goals. UNDP’s longstanding partnerships leverage the diverse capabilities, resources and knowledge of our partners.

The next four years will see UNDP strengthening these existing partnerships and forging new ones. Using our convening power to continue building strategic alliances with marginalized voices and empowering local actors.

The partnerships of the future require flexible instruments, modalities and funding, better suited to new types of partners or new ways of collaborating (e.g., “creative commons” approaches towards sharing intellectual property).

UNDP will also work with partners to advocate for, and facilitate, global and regional cooperation around common challenges – from pandemics to conflict to green transitions – while showcasing the value of multilateral solutions.

A strong partner in the UN system

Complementing our capabilities

As we work with partners across the UN system, we draw on each other’s complementary strengths and capabilities to deliver stronger results.
With the United Nations Development System to deliver coherent and integrated development solutions, driven by country demand, that maximise collective results and impact
As technical lead of the UN’s socio-economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Working with governments and partners under the leadership of the World Health Organisation and UNICEF to support COVID-19 vaccine preparedness and deployment
With UN Volunteers, United Nations Multi-Partner Trust Fund, UN Office for South-South Cooperation, and United Nations Capital Development Fund to reinforce the revitalized development system
Connecting partners to UNDP expertise and experience across country, regional and global teams through the Global Policy Network
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Better never stops

Building from lessons learned

The Strategic Plan 2018-2021 set out an ambitious agenda: to transform UNDP into a more nimble, innovative thought leader, more effective and efficient at delivering results, a trusted partner for countries in reaching the SDGs.

The Strategic Plan 2022-2025 continues in this direction, building on the progress of the last four years. It draws on assessments, evaluations and audits, and on the lessons of experience, including from our COVID-19 response.

Conversations with diverse practitioners and thought leaders from government, civil society, the private sector, the UN system and UNDP staff worldwide have also enriched the Plan.

Key lessons to which the Plan responds include:

The power of integration

Understanding and managing risk

Modernising operational systems and structures

Updating programming arrangements and implementation modalities

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Global, regional, local

UNDP’s network brings the world together, driving sustainable impact and results for people and planet.

  • Latin America and the Carribbean

    Panama Regional Hub

    Argentina

    Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean (covering Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, the British Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

    Bolivia

    Brazil

    Chile

    Colombia

    Costa Rica

    Cuba

    Dominican Republic

    Ecuador

    El Salvador

    Guatemala

    Guyana

    Haiti

    Honduras

    Jamaica (covering The Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Turks and Caicos Islands)

    Mexico

    Panama

    Paraguay

    Peru

    Suriname

    Trinidad and Tobago (covering Aruba, Curacao, Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago)

    Uruguay

    Venezuela

  • North America

    New York headquarters

  • Africa

    Addis Ababa Regional Service Centre

    Angola

    Benin

    Botswana

    Burkina Faso

    Burundi

    Cameroon

    Cape Verde

    Central African Republic

    Chad

    Comoros

    Congo (Dem. Republic of)

    Congo (Republic of)

    Côte d’Ivoire

    Equatorial Guinea

    Eritrea

    Eswatini

    Ethiopia

    Gabon

    Gambia

    Ghana

    Guinea

    Guinea-Bissau

    Kenya

    Lesotho

    Liberia

    Madagascar

    Malawi

    Mali

    Mauritania

    Mauritius and Seychelles

    Mozambique

    Namibia

    Niger

    Nigeria

    Rwanda

    São Tomé and Príncipe

    Senegal

    Sierra Leone

    South Africa

    South Sudan

    Tanzania

    Togo

    Uganda

    Zambia

    Zimbabwe

  • Arab States

    Amman Regional Hub

    Algeria

    Bahrain

    Djibouti

    Egypt

    Iraq

    Jordan

    Kuwait

    Lebanon

    Libya

    Morocco

    Programme of Assistance of the Palestinian People

    Saudi Arabia

    Somalia

    Sudan

    Syria

    Tunisia

    Yemen

  • Europe and Central Asia

    Istanbul Regional Hub

    Albania

    Armenia

    Azerbaijan

    Belarus

    Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Cyprus

    Georgia

    Kazakhstan

    Kosovo (as per UNSCR 1244)

    Kyrgyzstan

    Moldova

    Montenegro

    North Macedonia

    Serbia

    Tajikistan

    Turkey

    Turkmenistan

    Ukraine

    Uzbekistan

  • Asia and the Pacific

    Bangkok Regional Hub

    Afghanistan

    Bangladesh

    Bhutan

    Cambodia

    China

    Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

    India

    Indonesia

    Iran

    Lao PDR

    Malaysia (covering Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore)

    Maldives

    Mongolia

    Myanmar

    Nepal

    Pacific Office in Fiji (covering Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu)

    Pakistan

    Papua New Guinea

    Philippines

    Samoa (covering Samoa, Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau)

    Sri Lanka

    Thailand

    Timor-Leste

    Viet Nam

  • Representation Offices

    Brussels Representation Office (covering European Union)

    Geneva Representation Office

    Germany Representation Office

    Nordic Representation Office (covering Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden)

    Qatar Representation Office

    Tokyo Representation Office

    Washington Representation Office

  • Policy Centres

    Nairobi Global Centre on Resilient Ecosystems and Desertification

    Oslo Governance Centre

    Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development

    Seoul Policy Centre for Knowledge Exchange through SDG Partnerships

    Singapore Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development