UNDP Full Form

Introduction

UNDP or United Nations Development Programme is the worldwide network of the United Nations for promoting its agenda and collaborating with the Institutions and government to achieve goals. It was formed in November 1965 as a result of the merger of the Expanded programme of technical assistance and special Fund. It propels its mandate for change and sustainable development through connecting countries for exchange of information, knowledge and resources. It gives advice, training and support to developing countries and more specialized attention to underdeveloped countries. It is headquartered in New York City and enjoys a status of the executive board in the United Nations General Assembly.

Funding and Member States

The funds for operations of UNDP are entirely sponsored by the member countries of the United Nations. Its network expands to 177 countries where it engages with local and national governments to implement sustainable development goals. As of 2018, it has generated 5.5 US$\$$ revenue from its activities worldwide.

Organizational Chart

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UNDP’s Focus:

• #Nextgen UNDP: Next-generation UNDP builds upon existing belief and practices of UNDP but with the intention of a sustainable and prosperous future. It focuses on helping countries to respond to fast-changing Landscapes. It focuses on four aspects that are indispensable for Next-generation goals. These are Think, Invest, Manage, and Deliver. 

Think: From redesigning Human development report to improving the use of data to fight poverty, UNDP is accelerating efforts towards achievement of SDGs (sustainable development goals).

Invest: Each year UNDP pumps nearly 5 billion US$\$$ to finance its operations and bring more investors to contribute to a noble cause.

Manage: It focuses on creating a healthy and creative work environment that increases efficiency and trains the workforce to be more efficient, effective and innovative. 

Deliver: It connects 17000 workforces in 50 countries to deliver integrated solutions that lessen breakdown losses and associated costs.

• Three Development Settings: UNDP supports countries in challenges faced during the development phase. It recognizes that countries need 3 types of support to overcome obstacles and move closer to achieving SDGs. 

These are Eradicating Poverty in all Forms and Dimensions: According to UNDP’s estimate 700 million people still survive on less than 1.90 US $\$$ per day. Another estimate is that 1.3 billion people are still multidimensionally poor, including women and people with a disability that survives on less than 10 US $\$$ per day. UNDP is focusing on both inequality and poverty so as to ensure nobody is left. This requires addressing interconnected financial, ecological and administration challenges that drive individuals into poverty or make them defenceless against falling into it. This scale requires a quick pace of progress that is binding at various levels of government.

Accelerating Structural Transformations for Sustainable Development: The debilitating idea of social, monetary, and political exclusion brings about incapable, unaccountable, non-transparent institutions and procedures that hamper the capacity of states to address eternal inequalities. 

UNDP will bolster nations as they quicken basic changes by addressing disparities and prohibition, progressing to zero-carbon development and building viable administrations that can react to megatrends, for example, globalization, urbanization, innovative and demographic changes.

Building Resilience to Crisis and Shocks: A few nations are significantly influenced by shocks, for example, environmental change, disasters, extremism, monetary instability, plagues, and ecological degradation. According to its estimate, more than 1.6 billion individuals live in delicate regions. Around 258 million individuals live outside their nations of birthplace and 68.5 million are displaced. Debacles and the impacts of environmental change have uprooted more individuals than at any time in recent memory – on normal 14 million individuals every year. Significant disease outbreaks bring about extreme misfortunes from the impact on employment or decrease in family members livelihoods to national GDPs, as exhibited by the Ebola flare-up in West Africa in 2014-2015. UNDP supports governments on such issues through training and monetary support.

• Six Signature Solutions: To fulfil the challenges that SDGs demand, UNDP has developed 6 approaches known as signature solutions. 

Keeping People out of Poverty: The first relates to the first SDG of eliminating poverty in all forms through creating decent jobs and livelihood, social safety programmes, political participation and access to water, energy and health.

Governance for equal just and peaceful societies: It promotes equality through accountable governance in the form of Supreme courts, Parliament and Civil services that cater to the remotest villages.

Crisis prevention and increased resilience: UNDP helps the government to mitigate in case of disasters, calamities, violence and such incidents. Resilience building is a gradual process that strengthens people and institutions to anticipate, absorb, respond and recover from the crisis. 

Environmental development: UNDP believes healthy ecosystems are vital for sustainable development. It ensures countries have sufficient food and water and can absorb disasters. It sustains work for billions of people through forestry, agriculture, fisheries, and tourism which serves as an employment and also cleaning of the environment.

Clean affordable energy: According to its estimates 840 million people have no access to electricity and 2.9 billion people still use solid fuels for household work which is a cause of concern for health and environment too. It helps in the transition of solid fuels to cleaner and safer fuels.  

Women empowerment and gender equality: Gender equality is the prime focus in every action of UNDP. It believes prosperity can not be sustainable without the participation of the half population.  

2030 Agenda for sustainable government: This is the plan of action for people, planet, and prosperity. It recognizes that the removal of global challenges is indispensable for the achievement of SDGs.  

Outcomes:

• Sustainable Governance:

1. 27 Million people were able to tackle climate change better compared to before.

2. 256 million tonnes of cut in carbon emission.

3. 31 million people had access to services that kept them out of poverty.

4. More than one billion USD invested in the cause of SDGs.

• Inclusive Governance:

1. Support elections around the world on an average every week.

2. 89 countries collaborated to eliminate discriminatory laws.

3. 21 million people registered to vote in 2018.

• Resilience Building:

1. Three million displaced people in 12 countries have had access to basic necessities like food, shelter, clothing and energy.

2. 6.3 million people received HIV testing and counselling.

3. Four million people improved their livelihood after being hit by the crisis.

4. 15 countries supported to develop and implement strategies to tackle extremism.