March 2011: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) Evaluation Office has conducted an assessment of UNDP policies, strategies and programmes at the global, regional and country levels, and implementation of related projects focusing on poverty reduction and environmental degradation.

The report, titled “The Evaluation of UNDP Contribution to Environmental Management for Poverty Reduction: The Poverty-Environment Nexus,” notes that many UNDP country offices have established structures and programmes that successfully integrate poverty and environment concerns. A concrete example is the joint UNDP-UNEP Poverty Environment Initiative (PEI).

The evaluation findings also note that, while UNDP is aware of the import­ance of promoting sustainable development, the articulation of this awareness throughout the organization is uneven. In some countries, poverty reduction and environment programmes continue to work in parallel, with minimal incentives for integration, which prevent cross-practice collaboration. The report recommends building up the capacity of the staff to work on poverty-environment linkages. It also recommends the need for the organization to recognize the importance of sustainable environmental management for its mission on poverty reduction and to develop relevant monitoring indicators.

Despite the challenges, the evaluation notes that UNDP is well positioned to strengthen partnerships within UN system to coordinate action on poverty alleviation and environmental protection. The report recommends that the PEI represents good practice and should be scaled up to provide a model of how UNDP, in partnership with other UN agencies, can integrate poverty and environmental priorities at the country level. [Publication: The Evaluation of UNDP Contribution to Environmental Management for Poverty Reduction: The Poverty-Environment Nexus]