UNDP works in about 170 countries and territories, helping to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities and exclusion, and build resilience so countries can sustain progress. As the UN’s development agency, UNDP plays a critical role in helping countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Achim Steiner became UNDP Administrator on 19 June 2017. The United Nations General Assembly confirmed his nomination on 19 April 2017, following his nomination by Secretary-General António Guterres.
The Executive Board provides inter-governmental support to and supervision of UNDP activities, ensuring that the organization remains responsive to the evolving needs of programme countries.
Partnership is at the heart of everything UNDP does. We offer a nearly universal presence. Our substantial expertise—both intellectual acumen and practical experience—cuts across diverse development issues and settings.
In order to achieve its mandate, UNDP relies entirely on voluntary contributions from UN Member States, multilateral organizations, private sector and other sources, in the form of unrestricted regular resources (core), and contributions earmarked for a specific theme, programme or project.
Accountability is the obligation to demonstrate that work has been conducted in accordance with agreed rules and standards and report fairly and accurately on performance results vis-à-vis mandated roles and/or plans.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), otherwise known as the Global Goals, are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
Human development is about expanding the richness of human life, rather than simply the richness of the economy in which human beings live. It is an approach that is focused on people and their opportunities and choices.
To meet the objectives of the Strategic Plan in line with the 2030 Agenda, UNDP is implementing six cross-cutting approaches to development, known as Signature Solutions. A strong, integrated way of putting our best work, or 'distinctive' skill set, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
UNDP connects countries with the knowledge, resources and networks they need to achieve development breakthroughs. With deep local knowledge and a wide global network, we work with partners to end poverty and reduce inequality, while protecting the planet and championing human rights.
Our News centre is a one-stop shop for multimedia press coverage and in-depth information on development-related issues. We provide news announcements, press releases and statements by UNDP leadership.
#FutureSmartUNDP is designed to achieve integrated results at speed and at scale during both quiet and turbulent times.
UNDP publications showcase the organization’s thought leadership and expertise and play a key role in fulfilling our mandate to support the realization of the SDGs and encourage global development.
UNDP's sustainable development blog is written by experts working in over 170 countries and territories.
Our stories are visual and current snapshots of our work from around the world, showing how countries and communities are tackling development issues and moving the SDGs from paper to practice.
UNDP’s asset library is available at assets.undp.org, which features a great selection of UNDP images from projects around the world. Through the digital asset portal, you can find more than 5,000 images from every region, searchable by thematic areas, regions, countries, and key words.
UNDP works in more than 170 countries and territories, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty and the reduction of inequalities and exclusion. We help countries develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities and build resilience in order to sustain development results.
As a public organization entrusted with donor funds and committed to supporting developing economies, UNDP works to improve access to quality assured supplies in a cost effective and reliable way.
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You can contact our team with general questions about UNDP or about more specific topics.
UNDP has a long-standing commitment to transparency, with Country Offices publishing financial, procurement and programme information on respective websites on an annual basis.
Open.undp.org, UNDP's online portal allows open, comprehensive public access to data on more than 10,000 UNDP projects, and publishes more than US$5.8 billion in project data.
In 2013 UNDP moved from once-a-year to quarterly publication of project information.
The 2020 Aid Transparency Index, produced by the campaign for aid transparency Publish What You Fund (PWYF), rated UNDP with a score of 96.6 out of 100. Increasing its rating by 1.2 points since the index was last published in 2018, UNDP continues to be a leader in transparency - topped only by the Asian Development Bank (98) and the World Bank (97.1).
A member of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) since its creation in 2008, UNDP has led outreach efforts with partner countries and UN agencies to champion the new aid transparency standard and make it relevant for national development planning, public financial management, mutual accountability and other processes at country level. More than 100 UN agencies, multilateral banks, bilateral donors and NGOs providing 76 percent of aid publish data in line with IATI guidelines.
Beginning in September 2013, a multi-stakeholder consortium led by UNDP has taken over the role carried out since 2009 by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) to host the Initiative's secretariat for a three-year period.
Performance effectiveness, accountability and transparency are critical ingredients to trusted development partnerships. UNDP has made itself readily available to outside scrutiny through the assessment tools of its partner constituencies.
A Multilateral Aid Review (PDF) conducted by DFID in March 1, 2011, rated UNDP as good value for money.
Additional reviews and evaluations of UNDP by other partners are continuing with the shared goal of increasing aid effectiveness.
Taken together, the various assessments of UNDP demonstrate the organization’s ambition to continuously enhance its efficiency, effectiveness, accountability and transparency.
Institutional effectiveness is central to the transformation that UNDP envisions in its 2018-2021 Strategic Plan. Emphasizing partnerships and innovation, the Plan introduces six Signature Solutions to unlock the path to inclusive, sustainable development. Our aim is a well-orchestrated fit between our global vision and what we do on the ground, even as we remain open and flexible in the face of change, and closely attuned to different contexts.
Shifts in our headquarters and regional business architecture are bringing our staff together to cut through traditional programme “silos,” recognizing the reality that development’s many dimensions interconnect and build on each other. A process of aligning our country programmes maintains their traditional responsiveness to national priorities, while gearing them up to work in new ways—delivering better results, greater focus and increased value for money.
A new integrated results and resources framework is introducing more effective monitoring of how all UNDP offices achieve results and spend resources. To uphold quality assurance and foster organization-wide consistency, it includes core indicators and measurement guidance. UNDP’s first integrated budget has simplified and made more transparent the management of its different revenue stream.