Prepared for delivery

Madam Chair,  

Distinguished Members of the Executive Board,

Colleagues and friends,     

It is a pleasure to introduce the session on country programmes and related matters. 

My statement today will cover, first, a brief overview of the global setting in which we operate and, second, the new country programmes tabled for your approval.

With our Strategic Plan now well under way, UNDP is tackling challenges anew, seeking innovative, inclusive solutions in close collaboration with our partners.

These efforts come at a critical moment.

Economic inequality is on the rise, with the latest figures pointing to the richest 10 percent of the global population taking 52 percent of global income, while the poorest half of the population benefits from only 8.5 percent.  

Recovery from COVID has been uneven. Countries are still facing unprecedented losses of jobs and livelihoods, exacerbating vulnerability, worsening poverty, and insecurity, particularly for the billions of people without access to social protection and digital technologies.

Six months of war in Ukraine have further undermined recovery efforts, increasing global food insecurity and malnutrition, reducing access to affordable energy, and constraining green transitions.

These powerful stressors have exposed the weaknesses of global food and energy markets, leading to a historic rise in prices and cost of living, and contributing to six in seven people worldwide plagued by feelings of insecurity.  

In terms of direct quantifiable impact, UNDP estimates that the twin food and energy price crises could push 51.6 million more people into extreme poverty of less than $1.90 per day.

Many of the Country Programme Documents (CPDs) presented to you today operate in some of the most affected areas. The governments of the Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Sri Lanka, where around 3 percent of the population is at risk of falling into poverty, are working ever more closely with UNDP to address the stubborn roots of poverty and insecurity. And also in the Sahel region, where the food security crisis continues to worsen and the number of people on the brink of starvation has increased tenfold in the past three years.

Indeed, this is no time to step back. We must forge ahead. That is the commitment embedded in the CPDs we put forth for your review today – to accelerate progress and keep pushing forward, whatever the challenges.

We go to great lengths to make sure that our country programmes are instruments of the highest quality, formulated for the achievement of joint UN results.

This also means that we uphold the vision of - and sustain the progress towards - the UN reform by ensuring that our CPDs are:        

1. designed from the “get-go” to be part and parcel of their respective Cooperation Framework,     
2. strictly compliant with the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR). Our CPDs are presented alongside their respective Cooperation Framework.         
    
3. And finally, we ensure programmes closely conform to the Management and Accountability Framework: the respective Resident Coordinator confirm the CPD’s alignment with UN Cooperation Framework priorities.

Esteemed Members of the Board,

The new CPDs presented today are Egypt, Ghana, India, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyz Republic, Libya, Mongolia, Montenegro, Niger, Pakistan, Republic of Moldova, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Yemen, and Zambia.

In addition, we are requesting the approval of the second-year extension of the programmes for Burkina Faso, Chad, and the Republic of Sudan.

Before leaving the stage to my esteemed colleagues, I would like to highlight that the programmes for Guinea, Myanmar, and Ukraine have been granted the first extension in order to align with the UN Cooperation Framework cycle.

And finally, I would like to express our gratitude to all Members of the Board for your steadfast, productive, and effective engagement. As always, we look forward to your deliberations.

Madam Chair, I thank you.