United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

1. Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, has the governing body of your organization taken (or will it take) any decisions or new strategies to guide the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs? If any, please provide a brief summary below, including the overarching vision of your organization.

 

On 28 November 2017, UNDP's Executive Board endorsed the new Strategic Plan (2018-2021) that is anchored in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and committed to the principles of universality, equality and leaving no one behind.

The Strategic Plan sets out a vision for the evolution of UNDP over the next four years, responding to a changing development landscape and the evolving needs of our partners. Building on our experience to date, it describes how we will support countries to achieve the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals and related agreements by eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, accelerating structural transformations for sustainable development and building resilience to crises and shocks.

Link to UNDP Strategic Plan, 2018-2021: http://undocs.org/DP/2017/38

 

2.1 SDG-specific strategies, plans or work programmes

 

UNDP formulates a medium-term strategic plan every four years, which allows for adapting UNDP's services to evolving circumstances. The previous Strategic Plan (2014-2017), while articulated before the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, was developed drawing on a strong sustainable development vision, incorporating many of the principles underlying the 2030 Agenda. The new Strategic Plan (2018-2021) is fully aligned with the 2030 Agenda and lays out UNDP's SDG implementation offer for the coming four years, including:

- A series of signature solutions that define the core work of UNDP;

- Country support platforms for the Sustainable Development Goals; and a global development advisory and implementation services platform;

- An improved business model.

 

2.2 Aligning the structure of the organization with the transformative features of the 2030 Agenda, including any challenges and lessons learned in doing so

UNDP is in the process of examining its business model with the aim of accelerating delivery of quality programmatic results for SDG achievement and developing scenarios and options for making UNDP financially more sustainable. A focus is on partnership and adding value to the work of the UN family, both programmatically and operationally.

 

2.3 Readjusting or updating results-based budgeting and management, including performance indicators:

With the new Strategic Plan, UNDP has adopted an Integrated Results and Resources Framework (IRRF) that includes relevant SDG indicators as impact and outcome indicators. Results Oriented Annual Reports (ROARs) add qualitative evidence to monitor the organisation's support to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. With UNICEF, UNFPA and UN-Women, UNDP has also identified common SDG targets/indicators to monitor common areas of work.

 

2.4 Action to enhance support to the principle of "leaving no one behind" and to integrated policy approaches:

 

Leaving no one behind is at the core of UNDP's programming. In accordance with UN programming principles, it is underpinned by human rights, gender equality and women empowerment; sustainability and resilience; and accountability. To help implement the pledge, UNDP works with countries to deepen local understanding of who and why people are - or are at risk of - being left behind; shape according policies; strengthen mechanisms that facilitate their voice and participation; and to track and report on relative progress within the context of national SDG monitoring. UNDP's new Strategic Plan is based on the principles of "leaving no one behind" and "reaching the furthest behind first". It emphasizes that, across all the contexts in which it works, UNDP will prioritise the collection and use of disaggregated data and analyses for identifying those being left behind, and support the design of targeted interventions to reach them.

The recent mapping of UNDS functions and capacities highlighted UNDP's current focus on three broad clusters of goals: poverty, governance and planet. The poverty cluster (goals 1, 8, 10) amounted to 32% of UNDP's expenditure in 2016; governance (goal 16) 23% and the planet cluster (13, 14, 15) 15%. This shows UNDP is both a people and planet agency, with deep thematic expertise in a targeted set of goals, as well as demonstrated capacity as an integrator and convener across the agenda.

 

2.5 Others:

UNDP works within the overall framework of the UN development system's support to Member States in implementing the 2030 Agenda, guided by the UN Development Group's (UNDG) dedicated common approach entitled ‘MAPS' (Mainstreaming, Acceleration, Policy Support), adopted in October 2015.

 

3.1 Mainstreaming the SDGs in development plans and policies or through national sustainable development plans/strategies:

 

In application of the UN Development Group's Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support (MAPS) approach, UNDP deploys integrated policy support missions to support countries in mainstreaming the SDGs into national plans, policies, and institutional mechanisms, so-called 'MAPS missions and engagements'. Since their incubation in 2016, MAPS missions have become increasingly inter-agency initiatives, with representatives of 22 different UN entities having participated by March 2018. They involve teams of global and regional experts working closely with UN Country Teams to provide tailored advice and to help foster high-level national ownership of the SDGs as well as stakeholder engagement. Mission reports—including, so far, 12 'SDG Roadmaps' co-authored with governments—have taken a comprehensive, integrated approach across multi-dimensional issues. In some countries, these missions have also helped to begin operationalizing humanitarian-peace-development linkages.

To conduct these analyses UNDP has developed a suite of tools and corresponding training, often in partnership with other organisations to support the diagnostics required for quality policy and programme support. For example:

- Rapid Integrated Assessment to gauge the level of alignment between a country's national plan and the SDG targets;

- Institutional Context Analysis to better understand a country's political economy;

- Bottleneck Analysis to consider sector-specific and cross-cutting impediments to progress;

- PovRisk tool to identify the determinants that lead to people sliding back into poverty;

- Modelling and micro-simulation tools (in collaboration with UN-DESA) that allow policymakers to assess interlinkages between SDG goals and targets;

- SDG-specific forecasting tool (in collaboration with University of Denver) to support SDG acceleration efforts

 

3.2 Mainstreaming the SDGs in sectoral strategies, including specific SDG/target strategies:

UNDP has taken a lead role in line with its mandate, and in close collaboration with colleagues and partners inside the UN system and beyond, on implementing, monitoring, and reporting on peaceful, just and inclusive societies, and the catalysing role of SDG16 across the entire 2030 Agenda. This involves support to integration of SDG16 into national and sub-national systems and processes; developing inclusive mechanisms for monitoring, reporting and accountability for SDG16 at the national level; generating and disseminating knowledge on implementation and progress of SDG16; and building collaborative multi-stakeholder partnerships and interlinkages in support of achieving SDG16.

 

3.3 Data and statistical capacity building:

UNDP has undertaken a pilot project to map national data ecosystems, assessing challenges and opportunities for building open and participatory data ecosystems, which was scaled up in partnership with the Economic Commission for Africa, the International Development Research Centre and the World Wide Web Foundation. Launched at the first UN World Data Forum in January 2017,the 2016 Africa Data Revolution Report captures a baseline on the state of data ecosystems for sustainable development in Africa, against which progress of the data revolution can be subsequently measured. It will be produced every two years. The findings of the Data Ecosystems Mapping project have informed the development of a guidance note providing concrete and practical recommendations for supporting data and statistical capacity at national level. That approach is applied systematically in the context of integrated country missions to support SDG implementation and monitoring. UNDP is a founding member of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. As member of the Interim Steering Committee, UNDP helped build and expand the Partnership in its formative first, and contributed to shaping its policy direction.

 

3.4 Science, technology and innovation for the SDGs:

UNDP plays a lead role in convening the UN Data Innovation Lab series, in support of the implementation of the CEB Programme of Work on the Data Revolution. Through a series of six hands-on and practical workshops, the Data Innovation Lab aims to strengthen capabilities within the UN system to leverage new data technologies to best serve development objectives in the long-term. Jointly with UN Global Pulse, UNDP co-led the 2nd Data Lab in September 2016 on

 

3.5 Multi-stakeholder partnerships:

In everything we do, we seek collaboration with a broad range of partners - more specifics in the individual entries above and below.

 

3.6 Sub-national plans/strategies and implementation for the SDGs:

 

UNDP also works closely with local governance actors to deliver services and localize the SDGs, including through partnership with the Global Taskforce of Regional and Local Governments and UN-Habitat. Knowledge and information sharing platform containing a set of tools at www.LocalizingTheSDGs.org

 

3.7 Leveraging interlinkages across SDG goals and targets:

Our modus operandi is the leveraging of interlinkages across SDG goals and targets - more specifics in the individual entries above and below.

 

3.8 Others:

 

UNDP supports countries in implementing the 2030 Agenda through a mix of policy advisory, technical assistance, capacity building, financing and programme implementation modalities. The above and below are snapshots, exemplifying a range of initiatives.

UNDP supports policymaking, implementation and mainstreaming of the SDGs in fragile and conflict affected situations. Activities include advocacy for the SDGs and the New Deal, and their mainstreaming in national development strategies and plans, strengthening intra-governmental and development partner coordination for SDG achievement, and advocating for international cooperation to address issues related to fragility, conflict and crisis.

The strategic goal of UN/UNDP's engagement with the G20 is to align G20 policy actions with the UN Agenda, and to use its weight and political clout to address global challenges and make sustainable development an overarching guiding principle of its macro policy framework. UNDP worked closely with the Chinese Presidency of the G20 in 2016 to adopt a G20 2030 Action Plan for Sustainable Development, which was endorsed by G20 Leaders at the Hangzhou Summit. It facilitated the drafting process, including coordinating contributions by G20 members and international organisations. The G20 Action Plan reflects the comprehensiveness and universality of the 2030 Agenda by focusing on G20 collective actions and including the contribution of the entire G20 agenda and all work streams towards the SDGs. It also sets out modes for strengthening G20 coherence and coordination on sustainable development.

UNDP is supporting countries to define national financing for sustainable development strategies, with a focus on identifying catalytic interventions, crowding-in additional finance and partnerships, scaling-up innovative financing mechanisms and improving the effectiveness of financial resources. UNDP has established "The Financing Solutions for Sustainable Development" Platform that provides guidance to policy makers and researchers in selecting, reviewing and operationalising financing solutions to fund SDG-aligned national and sectoral development plans. UNDP and the French Development Agency (AFD) also prepared a joint report that looks at how the Least Developed Countries can make better use of a more diverse financing for development 'tool-box' ("Financing the SDGs in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs): Diversifying the Financing Tool-box and Managing Vulnerability" 2016). As one of the major institutional stakeholders of the Financing for Development (FfD) process since the first International Conference on FfD that took place in Monterrey in 2001, UNDP is actively involved in the Financing for Development FfD follow-up process. UNDP's contributes substantively to the annual ECOSOC Financing for Development Forums as well to the work of the Inter-Agency Task Force on FfD (IATF), which is mandated to report on progress in implementing the FfD outcomes and the means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda through its annual reports.

UNDP hosts the UN SDG Action Campaign that supports the UN system and Member States on awareness-raising, generating political will, empowering and inspiring people across the world to act on the SDGs. Its core objectives are to provide practical methods and campaigns for direct people's engagement in SDG implementation; encourage public ownership of SDGs through innovative communications, campaigning and policy advocacy; sponsor people-driven processes to monitor SDG progress through generation/collection of data, evidence, and sentiment about the impact of the SDGs, using the results for local advocacy. The Campaign maintains long term partnerships with a diverse range of people across sectors - including parliaments, local authorities, academia, civil society, faith groups, youth groups, women's groups, technology and communications partners, and other novel actors - to work towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. For example, hundreds of partners across the globe supported the MY World survey (2013-2015) that collected almost 10 million votes in the run-up to the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, informing it with people's priorities for the 'world we want'. Its successor initiative, MY World 2030, aims to collect globally comparable data on how people feel their lives are changing to support efforts to report on progress on the SDGs. Other offered services include World We Want 2030 (a multi-stakeholder platform with options to create local chapters such as "The Kenya We Want" or "The Lagos We Want") and We The Peoples Exhibition (pre-designed, modular exhibits of evidence of emerging SDG progress around the world), including: virtual reality films to tell the human story behind development challenges; Data Playground, an interactive display of citizen-generated data; Peoples' Voices Challenge and Awards that recognise the best mobilisation, advocacy and communications initiatives; and Humans of MY World, photo-testimony showing the human faces and stories behind the MY World data.

 

4.1 Supporting the intergovernmental body of your organization in contributing to the thematic review of the HLPF:

UNDP contributes to the High-Level Political Forum by co-leading an inter-agency thematic working group for the in-depth review of progress on SDG 1.

 

4.2 Contributing to policy/background briefs for the HLPF:

The follow up and review (FuR) process of the 2030 Agenda and SDGs includes mutually reinforcing processes at different levels. UNDP has supported the process of developing indicators for the SDGs throughout the inter-governmental process since its inception, and contributes as observer to the work of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators. The organisation's policy expertise was brought to bear on the process through substantive focal points on 15 out of 17 SDGs. Additionally, UNDP acted as coordinator of inter-agency coalitions such as UN-Water, or as convenor and facilitator mobilising a broad range of expertise, such as the Virtual Network of Experts on Goal 16 Indicators, thereby helping to make the process more participatory and inclusive. In support of the implementation of the global SDG Indicator framework, UNDP has taken a lead role in compiling data for two indicators on effective development cooperation (SDG 17, jointly with OECD) and in developing statistical methodologies for three indicators on the quality of public services and inclusiveness of public institutions and decision-making (SDG16). Furthermore, UNDP is developing guidance to assist countries in reporting on multi-dimensional poverty at national level (SDG1).

 

4.3 Helping organize SDG-specific events in the preparatory process:

Country reporting is critical not only for tracking national progress, but also in providing baselines and more regular progress overviews to inform national SDG implementation and monitoring. It should foster a national conversation that can inform policies and concrete action. UNDP is supporting the roll-out of the UNDG guidelines for the preparation of the first round of SDG Country Reports (22 so far), deploying financial and technical support.

 

4.4 Organizing side evens or speaking at the HLPF:

UNDP hosts and co-hosts a multitude of events at the HLPF, together with Member State, UN and other partners.

 

4.5 Supporting VNR process:

With UN-DESA, it is also supporting programme countries that will participate in Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs). UNDP supports almost all programme countries with their VNR processes (65 to date), in facilitating multi-stakeholder consultations and preparing the report, but also for follow-up on the VNRs.

 

5. How has your organization cooperated with other UN system organizations to achieve coherence and synergies in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs? In this regard, has your organization launched or intend to launch any joint programmes or projects in collaboration with other UN entities? Are there any results or lessons you would like to highlight that might help improve the design and impact of such efforts? Has your organization participated in any of the following coordination systemwide mechanisms or any other relevant platform - CEB, UNDG, EC-ESA Plus, RCMs, UN-Energy, UN-Water, UN-Ocean, IAEG, IATT?  Please specify which and indicate any suggestions you may have about improving collaborations within and across these mechanisms/platforms:

 

(Please see entries to other questions for specifics on cooperation with entities across the UN system.)

UNDP takes an active role in all relevant coordination systemwide mechanisms. The UNDP Administrator is the Vice-Chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group; and Co-Chair (with the USG of OCHA) of the Joint Steering Committee for development and humanitarian coordination.

Responding to requests from Member States for coherent and integrated support from the UN development system in implementing the 2030 Agenda, UNDP spearheaded the development of the Mainstreaming, Acceleration, Policy Support (MAPS) common approach, which was formally adopted by the UNDG in October 2015. Key resources to help apply MAPS and increase the effectiveness of SDG support include:

- Reference Guide to UNCT on Mainstreaming the 2030 Agenda

- SDG Acceleration Toolkit

- SDG Country Reporting Guidelines as a reference for UNCTs

- New guidance for UN Development Action Frameworks

- Joint Fund for the 2030 Agenda, an inter-agency pooled fund to facilitate integrated policy support at the country level

The publication "The SDGs are Coming to Life" (July 2016) showcases efforts made in select countries, with UN support. UNDP produced this on behalf of the UNDG.

UNDP's Strategic Plan (2018-2021) was developed in close cooperation with UNFPA, UNICEF and UNWOMEN that all prepared their strategic plans following the same planning cycle. A chapter common to all four agencies was included in the respective plans, which spells out areas of collaborative advantage in support of SDG implementation. In addition, UNDP closely consulted with other UN entities to ensure that the new strategic plan can harness cross-agency synergies in critical areas.

 

6. How has your organization engaged with stakeholder groups, both in supporting implementation at the country, regional and global levels, and within your own organization? If yes, please provide main highlights, including any lessons learned:

 

UNDP has extensive presence on the ground with staff working in nearly 170 countries and territories; long-standing and trusted relationships with governments and other partners; and a unique ability to develop and help implement the multi-sectoral and integrated development solutions that are needed today - not least by being able to work with and through partnership with stakeholder groups of every kind.

Civil Society

UNDP partners with a broad range of formal and informal civil society organisations that are outside the state and market. These include social movements, volunteer organisations, indigenous peoples' organisations, mass-based membership organisations, non-governmental organisations, and community-based organisations, as well as communities and citizens acting individually and collectively. UNDP's partnership with civil society actors spans multiple domains, including programme implementation, policy development and advocacy. Recognising that civil society actors often serve as both a driving force in guiding development policies and as a watchdog to make sure policies get implemented, UNDP facilitates civil society participation in all facets of implementing the 2030 Agenda.

The UNDP Civil Society Advisory Committee (CSAC) was established in 2000 to systematise the consultation process between UNDP and civil society actors at the global level. The CSAC currently functions as the main institutional mechanism for dialogue between civil society leaders and UNDP senior management. By contributing independent perspectives and critical analyses on different aspects of UNDP´s work, the CSAC has had, over the years, a significant positive impact on the organszation. Among other things, this resulted in a strengthening of the civic engagement dimension of UNDP's policies and programmes, as well as in greater collaboration between UNDP and a broad range of civil society constituencies.

Private Sector

UNDP has projects related to private sector development or engagement in most of the countries and territories where we provide assistance. UNDP works with companies from a variety of sectors, for example, water, energy, extractives, food and agriculture, consumer products, healthcare, finance and information technology. UNDP's collaboration with the private sector takes various forms:

- Facilitate discussions between public and private sector and the civil society on a specific development theme or industry sector;

- Find solutions for development challenges through core business activities and initiatives that include low-income groups into value chains as producers, suppliers, employees and consumers;

- Mobilize private sector financial and in-kind resources for sustainable development solutions;

- Leverage innovative financing and partnerships solutions to mobilize private capital for the implementation of the SDGs;

- Form broader collective action initiatives involving the private sector on key development issues.

The Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development (IICPSD) supports the private sector and foundations to become transformative partners in development through research, advocacy for inclusive business, facilitation of public-private dialogue and brokering partnerships. IICPSD, established in 2011 in partnership with the Government of Turkey, is one of UNDP's six Global Policy Centres. It leads UNDP's global work on private sector and foundations and supports UNDP's offices all over the world. IICPSD: http://www.iicpsd.undp.org/content/istanbul/en/home/

Launched at the United Nations in 2008, Business Call to Action (BCtA) aims to accelerate progress towards the SDGs by challenging companies to develop inclusive business models that engage people at the base of the economic pyramid - people with less than US$10 per day in purchasing power in 2015 US dollars - as consumers, producers, suppliers, distributors of goods and services and as employees. BCtA is a unique multilateral alliance among donor governments - including the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the United Nations Development Programme, which hosts the secretariat. Over 200 companies, ranging from multinationals to social enterprises, and working in 67 countries, have already responded to BCtA by committing to improve the lives and livelihoods of millions in developing countries through access to markets, financial services, affordable healthcare, water and sanitation, education and other critical services. BCtA member companies are market leaders that provide examples of successful, profitable and scalable models for reaching poor communities and contributing to global development. Business Call to Action: https://www.businesscalltoaction.org/

Foundations

We are engaging with foundations in country based dialogues about the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Our activities focus on developing innovative partnerships and testing new ways of communications, inviting foundations and civil society organizations to policy discussions as well as other outreach events to encourage foundations to participate in the 2030 development agenda.

The SDG Philanthropy Platform is a global partnership initiative between UNDP and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisers designed to help philanthropy from around the world understand better the opportunities for engaging in the SDGs, and their responsibilities as they engage; help governments and the UN system understand the added value of philanthropy's engagement; develop large scale collaborations which shift systems towards sustainable development results. The global platform connects to country activities in Kenya, Colombia, Ghana, Indonesia and Zambia, India, Brazil. SDG Philanthropy Platform: https://www.sdgphilanthropy.org/

 

7. Has your organization organized any conferences, forums or events designed to facilitate exchange of experience, peer and mutual learning? If yes, please provide a brief summary below and include lessons learned and gaps identified based on the outcomes of these events. Please also include any events you plan to organize in the coming years.

 

One of UNDP's key functions lies in convening a wide variety of partners at international, regional, national and subnational levels to help facilitate exchanges of experience, peer and mutual learning. Every year, we organise or co-organise a multitude of such events, including in the context of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development and other key SDG-related fora.

The Global Festival of Action for Sustainable Development aims to celebrate, empower, and connect the global community driving action for the SDGs. It is organised by the UN SDG Action Campaign (which is hosted by UNDP) with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the German Federal Foreign Office. Taking place in Bonn each year, the Global Festival of Action for Sustainable Development provides a dynamic and interactive space to showcase the latest innovations, tools and approaches to SDG implementation. Global Festival of Action for Sustainable Development: http://globalfestivalofaction.org/

 

8. Is there any other information you would like to share, including annual reports of your organization and any impact assessment or evaluation reports? If yes, please use the space below and attach the document(s). Please also use this space to provide any other information, comments or remarks you deem necessary:

 

UNDP's mandate related to sustainable human development, extensive experience across countries facing a wide range of development challenges, including the experience during the MDG-era, enables the organisation to provide integrated support to programme countries on SDG implementation in collaboration with other entities of the UN System.

UNDP's role can be outlined in four broad aspects:

1) It has deep expertise/specialisation in some specific areas where it can demonstrate competencies across a development topic, and the related SDG targets as areas of concentration;

2) The organisation serves as a substantive integrator across the 2030 Agenda, providing support to countries to connect the three dimensions of sustainable development including helping identify policy actions and define priority interventions, while preserving the integrity and indivisibility of the SDGs;

3) UNDP provides a unique service to the UN development system as the backbone of the system at country-level, and convener of partnerships. It also is trusted as a scorekeeper on development goals, and as a provider of institutional capacity development services in support of the 2030 Agenda at large. These are transverse functions, spanning across SDGs;

4) It provides a significant volume of services because local conditions demand it. Due to its large global presence, even in areas where it is not thematically a lead agency, its project management and execution capabilities are available. These services are accessed at the request of host governments, or at request of other agencies where agencies have no presence. In some cases, UNDP is the service provider of last resort and often a key asset in settings of fragility.

 

9. In your view, what should a strategic plan for the UN system in support of the 2030 Agenda and SDGs look like? What key elements should it include and major challenges address in such a road map?

 

The UN Secretary-General has made clear in his reform proposals for the UN development system that business-as-usual is not an option. Our goal must be a 21st century UN development system that is more focused on people, less on process; more on results for the poor and marginalised, less on bureaucracy; more on providing integrated support across familiar silos, less on turf battles and competition.

UNDP shares the Secretary-General's reform vision to make the UN far better at working together to deliver results for people.

The 2030 Agenda offers a unique opportunity to put the whole world on a more prosperous and sustainable development path. However, achieving this will not be easy. Adopting a truly integrated approach presents complex challenges. Leaving no one behind is hard to visualize in so many contexts today. And wisely identifying and managing risks requires a different set of skills and approaches. Strong and broad-based partnerships become ever more important for SDG achievement.

Meanwhile, the world is experiencing mega-trends which can affect prospects for achieving the SDGs. Persistent poverty and rising inequalities; rapid population growth and demographic transitions - including ageing; migration and urbanisation; environmental degradation and climate change; shifting trends in development cooperation and financing for development; as well as rapid technological advancements, with the associated opportunities and challenges - are all realities of our times.

While positive developments in all these areas can radically enhance prospects for achieving the 2030 Agenda; negative trends can also have detrimental implications across the SDGs. This makes it essential for countries to have access to increasingly more advanced and context-specific advice and support. It is therefore critical that the UN system respond with high-quality policy and programme responses, tailored to country-specific realities, and conducive to achieving the SDGs.