Jawaharlal Nehru, independence activist and India’s first Prime Minister, once said “Every little thing counts in a crisis." Today, as COVID-19 continues to reshape the lives of us all, tools to better support a rapid and ongoing response are being leveraged to provide relief, while delivering on the desire that people have around the globe to donate to organizations that are helping those most in need.

Just a short time ago, UNDP’s digital giving infrastructure provided for highly-targeted crowdfunding campaigns to help fill funding gaps for specific project-based work, such as the Green Aral Sea campaign in Uzbekistan. Today, as a result of the growing pandemic, UNDP’s fundraising platform has been opened wider to support a surge in demand for crowdfunding initiatives that will benefit vulnerable people across the world.

In its framework for the immediate response to COVID-19, the United Nations details five key streams, which place communities at the centre of response and recovery. As part of this UNDP has been entrusted as the technical lead of the socio-economic aspect response. Mobilizing fundraising resources to support sustainable human development  both globally and locally is an important way to take on this leadership role. Through a range of COVID-19 campaigns, up to 25 initially, UNDP will help mitigate the impacts of economic reversals and widespread loss of income.

Similar to our work with Samsung Global Goals, or the web-based game Mission 1.5, today’s UNDP toolsets drive collective advocacy via central platforms, while empowering at the community level. By enabling our powerful global network to tap into an equally powerful set of tools, we can best benefit women, vulnerable people, frontline responders, youth, entrepreneurs, and small business owners. This is best achieved when our network is tied together in solidarity in pursuit of a common goal.

Initially efforts are focused across the Arab States region with projects carried out by UNDP Offices in Djibouti, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Somalia, State of Palestine, and Syria. The project profiles underscore both the depth of needs across the region and the agility of UNDP’s response with local partners.

To learn more, follow #TogetherAgainstCOVID19 in social media, visit UNDP’s central donation page, read more about the first wave  of crowdfunding projects to be carried out by UNDP Offices, or take action to support one of them today.