June 2015: The UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) annual report for 2014-2015, titled ‘Time for Global Action,’ highlights key impacts of UNDP’s work and discusses the ongoing restructuring process aiming to make UNDP “fit for purpose” for the post-2015 development agenda.

In the report foreword, Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator, says UNDP is working with its national partners to help integrate the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into national development planning, and is providing data-based support for measuring progress toward the SDGs at the local and global levels. On climate change, Clark characterizes UNDP as “a leader of UN efforts to combat global warming,” noting its US$1.3 billion portfolio of climate change projects in 140 countries.

The report recalls the largest-ever “global conversation” that it helped to facilitate on long-term development priorities. It also highlights collaboration with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) to support the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) in identifying measurable indicators of progress for the SDGs and their targets. It reports that UN country teams and national governments will collaborate on efforts to strengthen partnerships, accountability mechanisms and timely data monitoring, “with UNDP poised to play a central role,” drawing on long-standing local relationships and its intergovernmental convening ability.

The report also underlines UNDP’s restructuring efforts to be fit for purpose in the post-2015 development agenda. These include: having fewer headquarters personnel and costs, and more staff and resources for regional and country programmes; refocusing UNDP’s resources and energies on sustainability, democratic governance, and crisis response and prevention, rather than thematically and bureaucratically separate “practice areas;” forging new development partnerships, from collaboration with civil society and the private sector to interagency and South-South cross-border cooperation; and UNDP’s country-level coordination to ensure that UN agencies work together as one on the new sustainable development agenda.

The report also notes that: UNDP was ranked the top performer in the Aid Transparency Index, in an evaluation of 68 agencies worldwide in 2014; UNDP oversees a nearly US$4 billion portfolio of specially funded initiatives; 56 countries contributed a total of US$793 million in core resources to UNDP in 2014, compared to US$896 million in 2013; and UNDP funding is provided entirely by voluntary contributions from UN Member States, multilateral organizations, and other sources. [Publication: Time For Global Action] [UNRIC Press Release] [Interactive Publication Site]