As prepared for delivery.

Mr. Secretary-General,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for affording me the opportunity to address this critical meeting today.

A combination of political instability; a public finance crisis; the COVID-19 pandemic; and drought are threatening to bring Afghanistan to the brink of a socio-economic collapse.

Basic services in the country are disintegrating, food insecurity is rising, and lifesaving aid is about to run out.

We must do everything we can to urgently provide millions of Afghans with the immediate assistance they need as the harsh winter season approaches.

 Afghanistan is facing a simultaneous humanitarian and development crisis.

New projections by the United Nations Development Programme show that by mid-2022, the country could face near-universal poverty -- with potentially 97% of the population living below the poverty line.

This devastating prospect threatens to undo many of the significant development gains made over the past two decades.

That includes the fact that per capita income has doubled.

Life expectancy has increased by 9 years.

And an additional 3 million girls have been able to attend school.

We must act now to protect these gains.

To do that, we must combine immediate humanitarian assistance with the vital local development support that the people of Afghanistan require.

That means maintaining essential services such as lifesaving healthcare, saving local livelihoods and keeping small businesses open.

We must make sure that farmers have seeds and fertilizer and can rely on climate resistant critical infrastructure.

Given that informal activities represent nearly three-quarters of the Afghan economy -- and 70% of that sector is owned by women -- we need to provide women with tailored support to keep the wheels of local economies in motion.

Women and girls must be able to obtain an education to help shape the future of Afghanistan.

20 years of learning, earning an income, running their businesses, and providing for their families cannot be taken away.

Holding the local economies and social fabric together through community based direct support will prevent thousands – if not hundreds of thousands -- of people from falling into poverty.

Mr. Secretary-General,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The ability to deliver this vital development support is still in place.

On the ground throughout Afghanistan, UNDP is committed to continue delivering for the people now in acute need.

And networks of local NGOs and civil society organisations -- our longstanding “implementing partners” -- are reaching local communities and delivering essential services directly to them, including on the COVID-19 response. And we are doing this in close partnership with our UN sister agencies.

This leads to my clear call to donors today:

Local development must continue alongside humanitarian efforts -- with an equal sense of urgency.

In particular, your commitment to saving livelihoods now will help to avert an escalating humanitarian crisis that could pitch millions of people into poverty and hunger -- and cause mass displacement within the country, and in due course potentially for many to flee its borders.

Your support will strengthen community resilience while tackling the very drivers of vulnerability and conflict.

The United Nations Development Programme and the entire UN Development System is at the forefront of these efforts alongside our sister agencies leading the humanitarian effort.

We have the capacity & expertise to help protect a generation’s worth of investment in the people of Afghanistan:

In their capabilities.

In their rights.

In their livelihoods.

And in their dignity.

The decisions we take today and the months to come will require realism, pragmatism, and vision.

I hope together we can make a difference.

Thank you.