English
development promise
Strategic plan
UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025 is our development promise. It is our promise to work with a diverse range of partners to support countries, tackle multidimensional poverty, promote gender equality, strengthen accountable and inclusive governance, increase energy access, and build resilience to crises and climate change. It sets out ambitious goals as we work across 170 countries and territories, so that millions of people can improve their lives.
Signature solutions
Our Strategic Plan is centred around six core development areas, known as our signature solutions. Through these, we help countries meet evolving priorities, address structural barriers and create opportunities for a sustainable, inclusive future.
We work with others to overcome the greatest development challenges of our time. Calling for a level of scale, speed and impact, UNDP has set four “Moonshots” – ambitious goals that we help advance by working closely with our partners: Member States, UN agencies, international financial institutions, civil society and NGOs, academia, and the private sector.
Our promise is to support countries solve immediate development challenges and shift underlying structures towards green, inclusive and digital pathways.
Poverty and Inequality
Boosting job creation and social protection, investing in social services and financial inclusion
Governance
Supporting rights, accountability, rule of law and people’s participation
Resilience
Taking a development approach to conflict prevention, peacebuilding, disaster risk reduction and crisis response
Environment
Supporting policy and financing choices that protect, manage and value natural assets
Energy
Increasing energy access for those furthest behind and accelerating the transition to renewable energy
Gender Equality
Investing in women’s economic empowerment, leadership and role in peacebuilding
Explore our Moonshots:
Poverty
100 million people out of poverty
Learn More
Energy
500 million people access energy
Learn More
Elections
800 million people can vote
Learn More
Finance
$1 trillion for the SDGs
Learn More
Enablers
Our signature solutions and moonshots are powered by three enablers – digitalization, innovation and finance – to accelerate development impact.
The SDGs
As the backbone of UNDP’s offer, our signature solutions contribute towards building the world envisaged by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Let’s build connections. Let’s make a difference. And let’s be future-smart about it.
Global Ambition: Poverty and Inequality
LET’S THRIVE AS ONE
Unlocking potential, ending poverty
Today, almost 700 million people live in extreme poverty, predominantly in conflict-affected countries and rural areas. One-third of adults – 1.7 billion – are still unbanked and 675 million people still lack access to electricity. If unchecked, the climate crisis may drive 135 million people into poverty by 2030.
UNDP’s ambition and Poverty Moonshot is to help 100 million people escape persistent multidimensional poverty and vulnerabilities by 2025 through systemic change.
Our signature solution on poverty focuses on creating jobs and livelihoods, supporting micro-small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), providing better social protection coverage, improving access to social services, and expanding financial inclusion. To leave no one behind, we aim to reach low-income and vulnerable groups, youth, women and informal workers.
UNDP’s partnerships over the past two years have supported 97 countries to generate much-needed jobs and livelihoods, benefiting over 20 million people in fragile contexts alone. We assisted 63 countries to strengthen social protection systems and expanded financial inclusion for 38 million people.
Our SDG Insights and Human Development Reports use advanced analytics and systems thinking to identify interlinkages and knock-on effects with the best potential to accelerate the SDGs. UNDP launched 95 Integrated SDG Insights Reports in collaboration with governments ahead of the SDG Summit in 2023.
Read more
Photo: YouthConnekt Rwanda
MOONSHOT: POVERTY
Enabling 100 million people to escape multidimensional poverty by 2025
What’s our progress?
Since 2022, UNDP has provided direct support
to 130 countries:
✓ 97 countries on jobs & livelihoods
✓ 63 countries on social protection
✓ 57 countries on better health services
✓ 60+ countries on MSMEs* support
✓ 30+ countries on financial inclusion
✓ 22 countries on displacement
Number of people supported by selected UNDP Initiatives since 2022
From isolation to mediation
The restrictions on women and girls, limiting their education and employment opportunities, have increased mental health issues and reduced women’s livelihood options. In response, UNDP Afghanistan put in place integrated responses that include cash-for-work, supporting women’s enterprises, providing access to basic services and conflict mediation training, leading to Community Safety Planning Committees that foster social cohesion. Fatima (foreground,
not her real name) is one of them.
Financing, reimagined
Sanduk is a traditional, communal savings and lending practice in South Sudan used mostly by women unable to access credit or subject to predatory high-interest rates. Now, the digitalizing of Sanduk is spurring financial inclusion for 1.6 million people, benefiting Bhakita and her hotel business, among many others.
Global Ambition: Climate, Nature and Energy
let's clean and cool
Pivoting our planet’s future
2023 was the hottest year on record. But ambition in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) has increased steadily since 2015, and new pledges could deliver the 1.5˚C goal the world needs. Since its launch in 2019, UNDP’s Climate Promise has supported 85% of developing countries – representing 25% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – to raise their NDC ambition.
We remain one of the most visible drivers of climate policy, and the largest provider of climate assistance in the UN system. At the end of 2023, the total size of UNDP’s current global climate portfolio was $2.3 billion (under implementation and/or approved), supporting 142 countries and directly benefiting more than 37 million people, nearly half of whom are women.
Our Energy Moonshot, in partnership with others, is increasing access to affordable, reliable and clean energy – which are pre-conditions for economic growth and poverty reductions – and helping countries accelerate the just energy transition. Since 2022, UNDP’s energy-related projects mitigated 82 million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions, the equivalent to taking 18 million cars off the road.
In Armenia, UNDP is helping to link decarbonization with more inclusive energy access through a $20 million Green Climate Fund (GCF) grant and $16 million in public and private investment. In Havana, Cuba, the introduction of an electric tricycle fleet, primarily operated by women, has facilitated the movement of over 1.48 million passengers in its first 15 months of operation.
Read more
Photo: Mark Miller/Plenty Belize-UNDP GEF SGP
MOONSHOT: ENERGY
Bringing access to sustainable, affordable and reliable energy to 500 million more people by 2025 and accelerating the just energy transition
What’s our progress?
Since 2022, UNDP has provided direct support to 118 countries*:
✓ 55M people with access to renewable energy
✓ 34M people making productive use of energy (health, water, agriculture, infrastructure, transport)
✓ 100M indirect beneficiaries (through policy and regulatory frameworks, market development, and capacity building)
✓ 330 projects including transitions to renewable energy
Number of countries supported by selected UNDP Initiatives since 2022
Biodiverse discoveries
Vi Thi and other women from Viet Nam’s Nghe An province are working to redefine how medicinal herbs are cultivated and preserved, thus protecting biodiversity and building livelihoods. This transformative gender project is supported by UNDP and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
Global solar system
Akouavi, from Togo, is one of over 3,500 rural women from 93 countries who have become Solar Mamas. The GEF Small Grants Programme, implemented by UNDP, has installed 175,000 solar systems in villages around the world. It not only trains students to become solar technicians, but also teaches them about women’s rights, health and safety, environmental stewardship, tech literacy, and more.
Global Ambition: Governance and Elections
let's make voices count
Enabling democratic governance
The 2023 global progress report on SDG 16 indicators highlights that progress on inclusive governance and peaceful societies is stagnating or reversing. In 2024, more than half of the world’s population will be going to the polls, making it the biggest year for elections in history. However, challenges such as extreme political polarization, misinformation in the media, and non-acceptance of election outcomes can lead to violence and instability.
UNDP takes a holistic approach to governance, enhancing people’s participation and respect for human rights – particularly for women, youth and other marginalized groups – and strengthening accountability and rule of law.
We offer strategic assistance to between 40 and 50 countries annually throughout their electoral cycles, mainstreaming gender equity and developing new digital tools to prevent misinformation and hate speech. From 2022 to 2023 alone, UNDP and Member States worked together to support elections with over 400 million registered voters, achieving 50% of our Elections Moonshot target.
In Vanuatu, (pictured below), a comprehensive package of electoral reforms is modernizing fragmented electoral laws to promote greater integrity in the electoral process. In Mozambique and Libya, UNDP has used eMonitor+ to address online violence against women in politics. And in the Philippines, a country with more than 65 million voters and 1.4 million candidates, nearly 500,000 women ran for office in 2023, representing an increase from 20% to 35% compared with previous elections.
Read more
Photo: UNDP Vanuatu
MOONSHOT: ELECTIONS
Supporting 800 million people to participate in elections – many for the first time – by 2025
What’s our progress?
Supported election participation by:
✓ 110.7 million registered voters in 2022(14 elections)
✓ 328.4 million registered voters in 2023 (22 elections)
✓ Over 439.1 million registered voters by the end of 2023
Number of countries supported by UNDP select Initiatives since 2022
Holistic inclusion and protection
Violence, abuse, and discrimination against the transgender community is worldwide and, alarmingly, on the rise. In response, UNDP Pakistan conducted workshops across the country with over 250 stakeholders to develop the National Strategic Framework for Transgender Persons Protection and Political Inclusion. The framework represents a crucial national milestone towards a more diverse and equitable democracy.
Identifying children for life
To increase the birth registration rate and legal identity among its people and remove barriers facing the more vulnerable, the Tajikistan government partnered with UNDP and others to take legislative and policy reform steps to ensure that no child is left behind. A free Mobile Civil Registry Office was also launched to reach families in landlocked, mountainous areas.
Global Ambition: Development financing
let's invest smarter
Fuelling the SDGs
According to the most recent estimate from UNCTAD, the annual SDG investment gap has grown to an estimated $4.5 trillion. Yet, global wealth is estimated at more than $450 trillion. The current financial system is not working for people or planet.
UNDP partners with governments, development and commercial banks, financial institutions, and the private sector to achieve its $1 trillion Finance Moonshot by promoting investment towards the SDGs. Our work on public finance – tax, budgeting, debt and insurance – and private finance, including SDG Impact Management and Measurement, have contributed to aligning over $200 billion investment in the SDGs.
On Tax for the SDGs, UNDP is supporting 51 jurisdictions on tax audits, tax system assessments against the SDGs and domestic tax design. Since 2015, through the joint OECD-UNDP Tax Inspectors Without Borders Initiative (TIWB), UNDP has contributed over $2 billion in additional tax revenue in developing countries.
On Debt for the SDGs, in 2022-2023, UNDP supported governments, with their financial partners, and issued nearly $14.75 billion in new thematic bonds across Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Mexico, Fiji, Rwanda, Uruguay, Bolivia and Cabo Verde.
On SDG Budgeting, UNDP provides policy advisory support to more than 50 countries analysing SDG trade-offs and synergies and strengthens SDG monitoring capacity. In one year, UNDP helped the Government of Colombia increase its budget for SDGs by $4 billion.
Sustainable finance is an enabler across everything UNDP does, including links with all UNDP’s signature solutions.
Read more
Photo: UNDP Peru/Bruno Camara Rojo
MOONSHOT: finance
Promoting over $1 trillion of public expenditure and private capital in the SDGs by 2025
What’s our progress?
Since 2022, UNDP has provided direct support to:
✓ $100B in aligning1 budgets with SDGs
✓ $14.75B leveraging2 debt instruments
✓ $100B private capital aligned through SDG Impact Management with stock exchange & investment funds
Financial Year 2022-2023 estimates
1. UNDP defines ‘alignment’ as working with partners to contribute to increased impacts on the SDGs from existing resources that are being invested by public or private entities.
2. UNDP defines ‘leverage’ as working alongside other partners to contribute to the generation of new resources that will be invested in the SDGs by public or private entities.
UNDP implements its $1 trillion Moonshot through:
Number of countries supported by UNDP select Initiatives since 2022
