United Nations Office for Project Services
1. How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed the priorities of your organization?
The UNOPS strategic plan, 2022-2025 (DP/OPS/2021/5) was endorsed by the UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS Executive Board in its Second Regular Session 2021 (ref. decision 2021/21).
The plan was developed through an extensive consultative process with external and internal stakeholders during the course of 2020-2021. During the process, the organization considered the health, humanitarian and socio-economic impact of COVID-19, including its impact on countries’ ability to achieve the SDGs. The plan explicitly recognizes the adverse impact of COVID-19 on poverty levels, integrity of health systems, and the availability of decent jobs; as well as on the availability of financing for development, amongst other things.
With its multitude of adverse effects, the Covid-19 pandemic has reinforced a core set of priorities for the organization, as outlined in its contribution goals:
- “Support countries. We support countries in developing their capacity and resource base for the Sustainable Development Goals;
- Help people in need. We help people in need through effective specialized expertise grounded in international norms and standards; and
- Enable our partners. We enable our partners to ‘do more with less’ through efficient project services, delivered locally or as global shared services. “
UNOPS is a demand-driven organization with a self-financing business model; and engages in projects for delivery of outputs and services based on partners’ demand and its ability to effectively contribute to expanding their implementation capacity.
With the onset of the pandemic, UNOPS saw a significant increase in demand for its service in relation to the COVID-19 response and recovery, often in the most challenging and extraordinary circumstances. This included particularly demand in UNOPS core areas of expertise: health procurement, and temporary and permanent health infrastructure, as well as financial management services. UNOPS was able to respond with agility and speed to the evolving situation. Overall COVID-19 related Engagement Addition (signed projects) now stands at USD 1.532 billion (USD 704 million signed in 2021) across 94 countries on behalf of 76 partners with a pipeline of over USD 210 million. This includes both newly signed projects, and re-dedicated project funding and implementation, in line with partner agreements.
The global authorization for COVID-19 Emergency Procurement Procedures (EPP) remained active until 31st December 2021.
UNOPS continues to review and document operational and management lessons learned from the response to COVID-19, similar to efforts leading up to the finalization of the plan.
2. In 2020/2021, how has your organization endeavored to support Member States to build back better from COVID-19 while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda? Please select up to three high-impact initiatives to highlight, especially those that address interlinkages among the SDGs. How has your organization cooperated with other UN system organizations in those efforts to achieve coherence and synergies?
UNOPS provides continuous updates on its activities to support the COVID-19 response efforts on its website. Below are three examples of such implementation activities in support of partners:
| Name: | South Sudan Safety Net Project (SSSNP) |
| Partners: (please list all partners) | World Bank, South Sudan’s Ministries of Agriculture and Food Security, Gender and Social Welfare, and Finance and Planning |
| Relevant SDGs | SDGs 3, 8 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative: | South Sudan |
| Description: | The project provides income security to nearly 430,000 people in some of the most vulnerable communities, including people with disabilities, the elderly, and pregnant or breastfeeding women. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first phase of the project is focused on providing rapid cash transfers to vulnerable people in Juba. |
| Website: | https://www.unops.org/news-and-stories/news/unops-south-sudan-and-world… |
| Name: | Pacific small island developing States responding to the pandemic |
| Partners: (please list all partners) | World Bank, India-United nations Development Partnership Fund |
| Relevant SDGs | SDGs 3 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative: | Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Samoa |
| Description: | With USD 33 million of funding from the World Bank, UNOPS provided support to efforts to procure essential medical supplies, personal protective equipment and laboratory equipment across the Marshall Island, Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Samoa. In Palau, UNOPS joined forces with the India-United Nations Development Partnership Fund, managed by the United Nations Fund for South-South Cooperation, to strengthen health care infrastructure. This includes the physical rehabilitation of community health centres and the procurement of air-purifying equipment. Efforts go beyond addressing immediate health needs: they strengthen health care across the region towards longer-term sustainable development, to help build the future for Pacific islanders. |
| Website: | https://www.unops.org/news-and-stories/stories/pacific-small-island-dev… |
| Name: | The future of public spending: responses to COVID-19 |
| Partners: (please list all partners) | The Economist Intelligence Unit |
| Relevant SDGs | SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative: | the publication is directed at all member states, and in particular programme countries |
| Description: | The paper examines the implications of the COVID-19 crisis, the opportunity it presents for rethinking procurement and the renewed importance of effective and sustainable public spending for the Sustainable Development Goals. |
| Website: | https://unops.economist.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Thefutureofpubli… |
3. Has your organization published or is it planning to publish any analytical work or guidance note or toolkits to guide and support recovery efforts from COVID-19 while advancing SDG implementation at national, regional and global levels? Please select up to three high-impact resources to highlight, especially those that address interlinkages among the SDGs.
UNOPS, with its unique implementation mandate and its demand-driven, self-financing business model, is a resource for technical expertise and implementation support across peace and security, humanitarian and development efforts, even in the most challenging contexts. Its technical expertise is grounded in twenty-five years of implementation experience in UNOPS core areas of infrastructure, procurement and project management. Within these core areas, UNOPS aims to support a paradigm shift, particularly in relation to the role of an evidence-based approach to infrastructure, as well as the transformational potential of public procurement, for driving sustainable, resilient and inclusive development. Already since 2017, i.e. its previous strategic planning period, UNOPS has made efforts to seek collaborations with renowned research and data institutions to compile and publish studies, white papers and reports on these topics. (See also response to question 5.6). Further, at regional level, UNOPS has occasionally devised targeted analytical efforts to support e.g. the Covid-19 response. Three examples are provided below. These illustrate the type of work UNOPS has undertaken in evidence-based infrastructure and public procurement, the latter at global as well as regional levels.
| Name: | Infrastructure for Climate Action |
| Publishing entity: | UNOPS, UNEP, Oxford University |
| Relevant SDGs | SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 |
| Target audience: | Governments |
| Resource description: | This report highlights the key role that infrastructure plays in delivering climate action and sustainable development. It finds that infrastructure is responsible for 79% of all greenhouse gas emission, and accounts for 88% of all adaptation costs. Compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is facing unprecedented challenges that affect all societies. |
| Website: | https://content.unops.org/publications/Infrastructure-for-climate-actio… |
| Language: | English |
| Name: | The Future of Public Spending: Responses to COVID-19 |
| Publishing entity: | UNOPS, The Economist Intelligence Unit |
| Relevant SDGs | SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 |
| Target audience: | Governments |
| Resource description: | Research done by the Economist Intelligence Unit, supported by UNOPS, explores how the COVID-19 crisis presents a unique opportunity for governments to ensure public procurement is more inclusive, sustainable and transparent in the future. |
| Website: | https://content.unops.org/publications/The-future-of-public-spending-Re… |
| Language: | English |
| Name: | UNOPS Regional Observatory for Medicines Prices |
| Publishing entity: | UNOPS |
| Relevant SDGs | SDGs 3 |
| Target audience: | Governments |
| Resource description: | The Regional Observatory for Medicine Prices processes and publishes drug price data from more than 20 countries in the Latin American and Caribbean Region. This includes essential medicines for inpatients with COVID-19 in intensive care. This helps countries make informed decisions in the context of procurement processes. |
| Website: | https://datastudio.google.com/reporting/1-HgL29p5D2dQ05DXBm7Z5djIrcECda… |
| Language: | Spanish |
4. How has your organization engaged with stakeholder groups to support SDG implementation and COVID-19 recovery at national, regional and global levels? Please provide main highlights, including any lessons learned. If your organization has established multi-stakeholder partnerships in this regard, please describe them (objectives, partners involved, relevant SDGs, Member States benefiting from the partnership) and provide links to relevant websites, if applicable.
Main highlights and lessons learned:
As a demand-driven and self-financing organization, UNOPS conducts all of its implementation activities in partnerships with governments of programme and donor countries, entities from the United Nations system, intergovernmental institutions, international and regional financing institutions, foundations, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. Two key lessons learnt in this context include (ref. DP/OPS/2021/5, paragraphs 101-104): We can contribute to an efficient and effective emergency response when we build on trusted partnerships with partners whose needs we understand, and who understand our unique business model and operational role. We recognize the importance of invoking emergency procedures in a controlled manner, including by deploying trained personnel to boost capacity in support of key decision points. We have benefited from establishing surge capacity to support our offices in matching partners' needs with our core competencies, coordinating knowledge-sharing at all levels of the organization.
Multi-Stakeholder partnerships established
| Name: | Managing Infrastructure Assets for Sustainable Development: A Handbook for Local and National Governments |
| Partners: (please list all partners) | UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA); the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) |
| Relevant SDGs | SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative: | All |
| Description: | UNOPS supported a joint publication by DESA and UNCDF that calls on countries to vastly overhaul the way governments build and maintain infrastructure to better support the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, climate action, and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. |
| Website: | https://www.unops.org/news-and-stories/news/infrastructure-for-covid-19… |
| Name: | Supporting Post-Disaster Recovery in Zimbabwe |
| Partners: (please list all partners) | International Development Association, FAO, IOM, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNFPA, WFP and WHO |
| Relevant SDGs | SDGs 3 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative: | Zimbabwe |
| Description: | UNOPS acts as the project manager, fund manager, and as one of the implementing partners for this multi-stakeholder project in support of the USD 72 million recovery effort following cyclone Idai. The efforts cover a multitude of interlinked needs across nine districts directly affected by the cyclone: food security, livelihoods, health, education and water and sanitation. As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded, several implementing organizations shifted some of the existing funding to help Zimbabwe tackle the pandemic. |
| Website: | https://www.unops.org/news-and-stories/stories/supporting-post-disaster… |
Following the adoption of the 2019 SDG Summit declaration (GA resolution 74/4), where Member States outlined ten priority areas for accelerated action in SDG implementation, please highlight any major integrated and innovative policies or initiatives that your organization may have adopted in the following areas:
5.1 leaving no one behind;
In its strategic plan, 2022-2025, UNOPS highlights its attentiveness to the most vulnerable and to leaving no-one behind, including for the socio-economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. This commitment is reflected in the organization’s drive for sustainable, resilient and inclusive implementation, and for mainstreaming and monitoring cross-cutting economic, social and environmental issues. The policy framework and guidance for gender equality, inclusion and respect for diversity, as well as for protecting health, safety and the environment, continue to evolve since the previous strategic planning period. This framework applies to what UNOPS does and how it does it.
5.2 mobilizing adequate and well-directed financing;
During 2021, UNOPS in cooperation with the University of Oxford, developed the Sustainable Infrastructure Financing Tool (SIFT). SIFT supports governments to increase access to infrastructure finance in order to achieve national development objectives. The National Infrastructure Financing Strategy of Saint Lucia showcases one example of how the Tool may be used to create evidence as the basis for seeking and mobilizing infrastructure financing. See also response to question 2.5 above.
5.3 enhancing national implementation;
As highlighted in a 2018 publication by UNOPS in collaboration with the Infrastructure Transition Research Consortium (ITRC) titled “Infrastructure - Underpinning Sustainable Development”, infrastructure systems have an impact on the achievement of up to 92 per cent of SDGs. Anchored in its core technical expertise, UNOPS pursues an evidence-based approach to infrastructure (EBI). The evidence-based approach can expand the capacity of government partners to plan, deliver and manage their infrastructure systems, and optimize the impact of their investments for an uncertain future, marked by population growth, urbanization, and the effects of climate change. It can also help establish the basis for governments to engage and explore different financing options. For this purpose, UNOPS has devised a set of tools, including to support governments in planning decisions in relation to projects and policy based on future demand and current supply (National Infrastructure Systems Model - NISMOD); and to assess the enabling environment and capacity of governments to effectively plan, deliver and manage infrastructure systems (Capacity Assessment Tool for Infrastructure - CAT-I); and to create and evidence base for seeking financing for their infrastructure systems (see response to 5.2 above).
5.4 strengthening institutions for more integrated solutions;
Ref. response to 5.3 above.
5.5 bolstering local action;
In 2020, orders placed by United Nations entities with suppliers from developing countries reached a record volume of $13.7 billion. In the same year, UNOPS awarded around $600 million of its procurement to local suppliers. In doing so, UNOPS is committed to ensuring sustainability, including facilitating enhanced sustainability of its suppliers through the Delivering Responsibility in Vendor Engagement DRiVE) programme. Using a defined process, which includes assessments of self-reported data sets and inspections, an action plan is devised in collaboration with the supplier. The aim is to foster targeted local action towards integrity in the areas of human rights, labour standards, equal opportunity, code of conduct, health and safety, quality management and environmental management. See unops.org.
5.6 reducing disaster risk and building resilience;
For a number of years, UNOPS has worked to explore and systematically document ways to facilitate complementarity between development, disaster risk reduction, humanitarian action and sustaining peace in countries facing humanitarian emergencies and in conflict and post-conflict situations. This was done in close collaboration with external knowledge partners, and primarily through the lens of quality infrastructure. These collaborative efforts yielded a series of thematic reports and essays on the role of quality infrastructure, including on: Infrastructure for Climate Action (2021) Infrastructure for Small Island Developing States (2020), Infrastructure for Peacebuilding (2020), Infrastructure for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (2020), the Importance of Infrastructure for Landlocked Developing Countries (2019) the Critical Role of Infrastructure for the Sustainable Development Goals (2019), Infrastructure: Underpinning Sustainable Development (2018), and Enabling Better Infrastructure (2018). The 2021 report published jointly by UNOPS, UNEP and the University of Oxford titled “Infrastructure for Climate Action”, highlighted that infrastructure plays a key role in delivering climate action and sustainable development. The energy, transport and buildings sectors are the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and infrastructure overall is responsible for 79 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions. The report was published ahead of the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26), and underpinned UNOPS engagement during the climate conference. Similarly, the increased resilience of public procurement chains can support social inclusion. UNOPS can support governments in assessing their national procurement systems in relation to the local procurement regulatory framework, practices, business environment and performance. A range of internal tools have been developed for deployment in the context of UN Common Country Analyses (CCA). See unops.org.
5.7 solving challenges through international cooperation and enhancing the global partnership;
N/A
5.8 harnessing science, technology and innovation with a greater focus on digital transformation for sustainable development;
N/A
5.9 investing in data and statistics for the SDGs; and
UNOPS work on evidence-based infrastructure as described under 5.3 above may include supporting the assessment and strengthening of a government’s capacity to collect, store and leverage infrastructure-related data for upstream infrastructure adaptation decision-making.
5.10 strengthening the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).
N/A
6. In the lead up to the 2023 HLPF to be held under the auspices of the General Assembly (or 2023 SDG Summit), please provide your organization’s recommendations on how to overcome challenges to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of the SDGs, taking into account the thematic reviews and voluntary national reviews conducted to date.
In 2022, the HLPF theme will be ‘Building back better from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.’ The 2022 Forum will hold in-depth reviews of: SDGs 4 (quality education), 5 (gender equality), 14 (life below water), 15 (life on land), and 17 (partnerships for the Goals). In 2023, the HLPF theme will be ‘Accelerating the recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels.’ The 2023 Forum will hold in-depth reviews of: SDGs 6 (clean water and sanitation); 7 (affordable and clean energy); 9 (industry. innovation, and infrastructure); 11 (sustainable cities and communities); and 17 (partnerships for the Goals). UNOPS supports work across UN SDGs, with a significant share of past and anticipated demand in relation to SDGs 6, 7 and 9, which will be reviewed in 2023. In 2018, UNOPS provided one example on how to overcome challenges to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, in its publication titled “Infrastructure - Underpinning Sustainable Development”. As highlighted in the publication, anchored in its core technical expertise of sustainable infrastructure, UNOPS pursues an evidence-based approach to infrastructure (EBI). The evidence-based approach can expand the capacity of government partners to plan, deliver and manage their infrastructure systems, and optimize the impact of their investments for an uncertain future, marked by population growth, urbanization, and the effects of climate change. It can also help establish the basis for governments to engage and explore different financing options (see 5.3 above).
7. Please review your organization's information contained in the UN System SDG Implementation Database. If you wish to submit any updates, please share details below.