11 June: The UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) Draft Strategic Plan for 2014-2017 is under consideration by the joint Executive Board of UNDP, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), which is holding its annual session on 3-14 June 2013, in New York, US. In remarks to the Board, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said the plan proposes a sharpened focus and streamlined operations for UNDP, based on a “single vision focused around simultaneously eradicating poverty and reducing inequalities and exclusion.” It calls for reducing the number of development outcomes from 25 to seven, with no more than four planned for each country. The draft Strategic Plan is designed as a “global offer,” Clark said, setting out the areas in which UNDP can offer expert assistance, with its delivered activities in each country dependent on national priorities and needs.

In terms of UNDP’s operations, the draft plan focuses on impact at the country level, and calls for a more flexible, solutions oriented internal architecture for UNDP.

Clark said that alongside the new Strategic Plan, guidance for UNDP’s work will come from the outcomes of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), the post-2015 development agenda and the implementation of the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR) of 2012.

She also reported that in response to fiscal challenges, UNDP has cut US$50 million from planned spending in 2013 through a temporary hiring freeze and suspension or discontinuation of lower-priority activities.

The draft plan, which was published on the UNDP website for feedback from Board members, will be submitted for final approval in September 2013. UNDP is requesting stable, predictable core (non-earmarked) funding. [UNDP Press Release] [Statement of UNDP Administrator, 10 June] [Statement of UNDP Administrator, 11 June] [Executive Board Webpage]