Development impact

Our focus

Development impact

Overview

Development challenges are increasingly complex and unpredictable. With Agenda 2030, ever greater collaboration across sectors and partners is required to deliver impact at scale and to make the most of limited resources.

UNDP is well positioned to achieve that. Thanks to our expertise and global networks, we have been helping countries to connect the dots on the toughest sustainable development issues they face.

But in a rapidly changing world, we should constantly seek to improve our work. UNDP has been working to diversify its sources of funding and to pilot more effective business models.

Goals

Our work helps our partners and the UN system to achieve sustainable, people-centered development and effectively support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

We do this through an integrated approach that links policy with planning and programming, uses innovative solutions, monitors and evaluates impact, and equally learns from failures and successes.

Programme and initiatives

SDG Finance

Channeling finance for people and the planet is critical. To achieve the 2030 SDGs, over 4 trillion dollars are needed to close the global financing gap. The finance needed is only 1% of the global wealth. However, it is not directed to the most needed areas of sustainable development.

With the UNDP moonshot to mobilize and leverage capital of 1 trillion USD towards the SDGs, we work on building a more sustainable finance architecture with public and private sector partners. UNDP possesses a unique position in shaping global economic governance and initiating systemic changes to make the finance work for economic development, social impacts and environmental sustainability.

Innovation

New ways of doing development, driven by citizens, are emerging. From social impact investors to new government units focusing on behavioral change, new and old players alike are pioneering methods that turn traditional approaches on their head.

At UNDP, our goal is to capture these methods and harness the potential of the data revolution, new technologies, innovative finance, urban transformation and other innovative practices to help our partners roll out solutions to key issues such as air pollution, gender equality, sustainable cities and so much more.

South-south cooperation

South–South Cooperation is a phrase traditionally used to describe the exchange of resources, technology, and knowledge between the countries of the Global South.

For many years, countries in Europe and Central Asia have been doing just that. Given that many countries have similar development priorities and trajectories, the incentives for cooperation are considerable. Together, they boost each other’s development efforts, find solutions to common challenges, and increase regional cohesion.