United Nations Development Programme

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Thematic Focus
• Strategy
• Achievements

Overview

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN's global development network. It advances human development by providing policy advice and technical assistance to countries in support of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and plays a lead role in the UN's reform efforts.

Through the UN's Delivering as One initiative, UNDP is coordinating the work of all UN institutions in eight pilot countries in order to increase aid effectiveness and accelerate progress toward achieving the MDGs.

Canada has worked closely with UNDP since its creation in 1965. Canada sits on the Executive Board for 2010-2012 and is UNDP's seventh largest donor. UNDP works in 166 countries, including all of CIDA's countries of focus.

Thematic Focus

UNDP's mandate is closely aligned with two of CIDA's priority themes: stimulating sustainable economic growth and increasing food security. UNDP also works in sensitive areas such as democratic governance and crisis prevention and recovery, making it a key multilateral partner for CIDA in fragile and conflict situations.

Economic growth

UNDP's focus on inclusive and sustainable economic growth makes it an important partner for CIDA in building economic foundations, growing businesses and investing in people. UNDP provides policy advice in areas such as employment, job creation and social safety nets and helps develop the capacity of governments to formulate strategies and fiscal policies that stimulate growth to benefit the poor, reduce poverty, and lead to achieving the MDGs.

Food security

UNDP is a member of the United Nations Secretary-General's High Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis established in April 2008 after the significant increase in international food prices and the ensuing food crisis. The task force's main objective is to promote a coordinated international response to the challenge of achieving global food security.

CIDA's Strategy for Working with UNDP

CIDA's work with UNDP focuses on four strategic objectives:

1. Encouraging UNDP to focus on its areas of known expertise and comparative advantage, namely poverty reduction, inclusive economic growth, and support for democratic processes and the rule of law, including equality between women and men and human rights systems
2. Promoting UNDP's leadership in UN reforms such as moving towards greater efficiency, coherence and coordination at the country level, as well as harmonizing UNDP business practices with those of other UN agencies
3. Supporting UNDP's work to strengthen its programming in crisis prevention and recovery and engagement in humanitarian issues
4. Continuing to improve UNDP's institutional effectiveness and results reporting at the organizational level

Achievements

In 2010, with the support of CIDA and other donors, UNDP:

• Initiated, with partners in Haiti, large-scale cash-for-work initiatives, which employed 240,000 people and cleared 1 million cubic metres of debris following the earthquake
• Helped more than 200,000 people in the Pakistan provinces hardest hit by the devastating floods to begin rebuilding their lives
• Supported the establishment of the new National Human Rights Commission in Bangladesh
• Supported the development of Ethiopia's first commodities exchange, directly benefiting an estimated 850,000 farmers
• Partnered with the Government of Jordan to design and implement an electronic property-tax collection system, resulting in increased tax revenues, improved transparency and additional funding for local development
• Worked closely with the women's movement in Burundi to promote women's participation in the election process, resulting in a historic number of women beingelected―34 out of 106 available seats in parliamentary and legislative elections and 19 out of 46 in the Senate were filled by women
• Supported voter education initiatives and media training workshops in southern Sudan, contributing to having 2.3 million voters participate in the week-long referendum
• Trained 300 police trainers on how to respond to domestic violence and recruited 832 new female police officers, bringing the total number of women in law enforcement to 1,073 in the Afghan National Police
• Supported the development of 90 community-based micro-hydro projects and provided electricity access to 869,000 households in remote areas in 20 provinces of Indonesia
• Planted or built more than 7,000 hectares of mangrove, fruit and timber plantations and fishery cultivation ponds in partnership with Bangladesh's Forestry Department with benefits for 85,000 people
• Helped establish 500 organic model farms in the Dominican Republic's largest watershed area, representing 10 percent of all farms in an area that is home to 600,000 people

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