United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR)
1. Responding to the multiple crises, has the governing body of your organization taken any decisions or adopted any new strategies to enhance effective delivery of sustainable, resilient, and innovative solutions and to reinforce the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and poverty eradication?
Nothing to report
2. In the past year, has your organization organized any intergovernmentally mandated conferences, forums or events that contributed to the achievement of the SDGs, or in the process of planning and organizing any such mandated events to be held next year?
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2022 High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges: Development Cooperation |
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Event Dates: |
7-8 December 2022 |
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Event Location (City, Country): |
Geneva, Switzerland |
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Relevant SDGs: |
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10,11, 13, 16,17 |
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Description (max 150 words): please include a short summary of the event’s mandate and contributions to the SDGs, including its main outcome(s) |
The Dialogue focused on the role of development cooperation in advancing protection, inclusion, and solutions for refugees, stateless and other forcibly displaced. The two-day event brought together over 500 participants. The outcome document include proposed actions to strengthen national leadership, coordination, and data collection and both new and existing tools and initiatives to promote inclusion and sustainable solutions. It also documents lessons learned and impact of local, national, and regional examples of development cooperation and how these complement humanitarian action and support protection outcomes until a durable solution can be found |
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Website (if applicable) |
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Event Name: |
Global Refugee Forum |
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Event Dates: |
13-15 December 2023 |
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Event Location (City, Country): |
Geneva, Switzerland |
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Relevant SDGs: |
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,13,16,17 |
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Description (max 150 words): please include a short summary of the event’s mandate and contributions to the SDGs, including its main outcome(s) |
The Global Refugee Forum, which will take place in Geneva from 13-15 December 2023, offers a unique quadrennial opportunity to enhance burden and responsibility sharing as enshrined in the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and support comprehensive refugee responses. It galvanizes long-term political ambitions and policy commitments that lead to collective action and concrete pledges of financial, material, technical, or other forms of support. This is achieved through high-quality transformational pledges that support refugees and hosting countries across various key themes and refugee situations. Pledges that have the potential to transform the lives of refugees and host communities for the better need to be sustainable and multi-year, have high impact, include clear targets, facilitate concrete contributions, and demonstrate strong government leadership supported by a multi-stakeholder and partnership approach. The 2023 Forum is co-convened by six States – Colombia, France, Japan, Jordan, Niger, and Uganda, and co-hosted by the Government of Switzerland and UNHCR. |
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Website (if applicable) |
Initiatives and pledges contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda: https://globalcompactrefugees.org/pledges-contributions/multistakeholder-pledges-global-refugee-forum-2023 |
3. In the past year, has your organization published or planned to publish any analytical work or guidance note or toolkits to guide and support the implementation of SDGs at national, regional and global levels? Please select up to three to highlight, especially those that address interlinkages among the SDGs.
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Resource Name |
Appraisal Tool on the Inclusion of Forcibly Displaced and Stateless Persons in National Frameworks for the Achievement of the SDG |
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Relevant SDGs (list all relevant goals) |
All |
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Publishing entity/entities |
UNHCR, UNDP |
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Target audience |
Local governments, UN agencies, Local and Regional authorities, development partners |
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Description (max 150 words) |
It offers governments, UN agencies, local and regional authorities, development partners and other stakeholders an integrated framework to identify and analyse the critical factors for accelerating the inclusion and delivery of sustainable solutions to forcibly displaced and stateless populations.
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Language(s) |
English |
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Website (if applicable) |
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Resource Name |
Forced displacement survey |
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Relevant SDGs (list all relevant goals) |
All |
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Publishing entity/entities |
UNHCR |
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Target audience |
Local governments, UN agencies, Local and Regional authorities, development partners |
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Description (max 150 words) |
The FDS collects multi-topic data on the socioeconomic and living conditions of refugees, asylum-seekers and nationals who live in proximity (host communities). The main topics covered by the FDS can be broadly classified into four areas: demographics and legal status, socio-cultural, economic, and civil-political. The data produced will be publicly available (in compliance with UNHCR’s Data Protection Policy) and can be used to inform operations, programmes and research of donors, humanitarians, and development institutions as well as forcibly displaced persons themselves. While reducing the burden to provide information on affected populations, the FSD is comparable across countries and, over time, in alignment with the international statistical standards. Following international standards makes FDS data comparable with other international and national surveys. |
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Language(s) |
English |
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Website (if applicable) |
https://www.unhcr.org/what-we-do/reports-and-publications/data-and-stat… |
4. In connection with the 2023 SDG Summit, the United Nations development system announced 12 High-Impact Initiatives where transformative progress is possible despite challenging global circumstances. Please share if your organization is contributing to any of these High Impact Initiatives and how various actors are being rallied behind them to mobilize further leadership and investment to bring progress to scale.
Digital Public Infrastructure (Scaling inclusive and open digital ecosystems for the SDGs)
To ensure forcibly displaced people are not left behind in access to meaningful connectivity, UNHCR has partnered with ITU, GSMA, and the Government of Luxembourg to co-convene a Global Refugee Forum pledge on Connectivity for Refugees. The goal of the pledge is to mobilize the expertise, resources, and investment needed to ensure all major refugee hosting areas have available and affordable connectivity by 2030, advancing the digital inclusion of more than 20 million people forced to flee and their hosts.
For those forced to flee, meaningful connectivity can bring access to life-saving information, online learning opportunities, new sources of income, and more. The pledge will bring together a wide coalition of actors dedicated to providing connectivity to forcibly displaced and stateless people and the communities that host them. It will enable coordinated action, resource mobilization, knowledge sharing, and progress monitoring – ultimately ensuring pledges are met and communities are connected.
Global Accelerator (The Global Accelerator on jobs and social protection for just transitions)
The Multistakeholder Pledge on Economic Inclusion and Social Protection aims to galvanize concrete commitments from a wide range of stakeholders to advance the self-reliance of refugees, other forcibly displaced and stateless people, and host communities, by addressing the specific and structural barriers and risks that they face while strengthening their resilience to shocks. Pledge commitments will support the implementation of and advocate for inclusive legal and policy frameworks to promote economic inclusion and social protection, including through policies and programmes needed to reduce the lifelong consequences of poverty and exclusion. Pledge commitments will be evidence-informed and supported by relevant programmes, technical assistance, and financing mechanisms.
Local2030 Coalition (Pushing key transitions and achieving the SDGs by 2030)
UNHCR has been a member of the Coalition since its early days at both technical and Director level and has submitted its candidature to be one of the co-chairs in 2025.
UNHCR gives a platform for cities and refugees wherever it can. UNHCR works closely with refugees and forcibly displaced in the preparatory work of the upcoming Global Refugee Forum (GRF) and will see refugees as part of delegations at this key event. UNHCR and partners are also developing a multistakeholder Pledge on Advancing Localization in Displacement and Stateless Responses demonstrating that local actors, including refugee led organizations, are in the driving seat and recognizing their expertise and contribution to ensure a need based, whole of society approach to a better and more equitable world for all. Cities continue to be encouraged to participate in the Cities #WithRefugees, a group that counts over 300 cities from 50 countries and keep growing.
The Call to Local Action for Migrants and Refugees is a collaborative effort between the Mayors Mechanism, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), Mayors Migration Council, IOM in partnership with UNHCR, following the model of robust local efforts to localize the SDGs and achieve the Paris Agreement. This call enables cities to make pledges towards the objectives of the two compacts – the Global Compact on Refugees and the Global Compact for Migration
Nature Driving Economic Transformation (Leveraging the power of biodiversity and nature to drive equitable economic progress)
UNHCR has initiated a GRF Climate Action Multistakeholder Pledge that aims to mobilize and scale up climate action that includes refugees, other forcibly displaced and stateless people, and their hosts to strengthen their protection, preparedness, and resilience to the adverse impacts of climate change now and in the future. The pledge encourages parties to take action in the following thematic areas:
- Scaled-up accessible finance: Stakeholders (including IFIs/MDBs, development, philanthropic and private sector) pledge to include refugees and host communities within the scope of existing climate action financing windows and simplify access to grants and innovative sources for refugees and local actors.
- Project pipeline based on good practice: Encouraging collaboration between stakeholders to generate tangible, high-impact projects that support meaningful engagement, participation, and co-implementation of climate action with refugees and host community members, including through implementing locally led adaptation principles.
- Inclusive laws, policies, and plans: Ensuring that host countries include refugees in their climate action laws, policies and plans, including in the development of National Adaptation Plans, Nationally Determined Contributions, DRR Strategies and Early Warning Systems.
Power of Data (Unlocking the data dividend for the SDGs)
- Joint Data Center: Jointly institutionalized in the World Bank and UNHCR, the JDC brings together the staff, resources, and capacities of both organizations. The initiative acts as a catalyst to transform the data landscape on forced displacement and to help achieve its long-term vision. It works to enable sustainable change for affected populations by improving the evidence-base for national policy, development, and humanitarian operations. Ultimately, the JDC will also serve as a global public good addressing the needs of both affected governments and populations, while ensuring results are made widely available. Epitomizing the Agenda 2030’s core promise to “leave no-one behind”, countries such as Uganda, Iraq, Georgia, Chad, Niger, Ethiopia, Lebanon, and the Central African Republic are beginning to include forcibly displaced people in national surveys.
- Expert Group on Refugee, IDP and Statelessness Statistics (EGRISS): International statistical recommendations produced by EGRISS are being used to inform the inclusion of forcibly displaced and stateless persons in national statistical systems. Since the endorsement of the International Recommendations on Refugee and IDP Statistics (IRRS and IRIS), the EGRISS Secretariat has been monitoring their implementation at national, regional, and global levels. To date, over 120 examples demonstrate that several countries and institutions have made concrete steps to better include forcibly displaced populations into data collection efforts. Country and institutional experiences provide important lessons learned on the applicability of the recommendations that can be shared with other actors conducting similar exercises. These examples further inform the priorities of EGRISS moving forward.
Transforming Education (Learning to build a better future for all)
- UNHCR, The World Bank, the Global Partnership for Education, Education Cannot Wait, UNICEF and a growing number of donor countries including Germany, the UK and Canada are currently formulating concrete GRF commitments to match the policy pledges host countries have made to include refugee children in national education systems. They have deliberately elected to measure achievement of the GRF Education mega pledge against national SDG4 targets to underscore the importance of inclusion.
5. In addition to the above, has your organization been part of any other initiatives or multi-stakeholder partnerships that enhance effective delivery of sustainable, resilient and innovative solutions and reinforce the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially in the areas of SDG1 (no poverty), SDG2 (zero hunger), SDG13 (climate action), SDG16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), SDG17 (partnerships for the goals), which will go under in-depth review at the HLPF in 2024, or related to the Secretary-General’s proposals in Our Common Agenda?
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Initiative/Partnership Name |
Multi-Stakeholder Pledge on Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention (Global Refugee Forum) |
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Key Stakeholders |
Colombia, Egypt, Norway, UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (co-leads) with 17 other stakeholders including Member States, UN system entities, regional organizations, and civil society |
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Relevant SDGs (list all relevant goals) |
SDG 16 |
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Member States benefiting from it |
Burkina Faso (TBC), Burundi (TBC) CAR (TBC), Colombia, DRC (TBC) Honduras, Somalia, South Sudan, |
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Description (max 150 words) |
UNHCR is supporting stakeholders on three “tracks” to formulate commitments in support of the peacebuilding and conflict prevention multistakeholder pledge (led by the Peacebuilding Support Office through the UN Peacebuilding Contact Group, a global Inter-Agency coordination platform);
Commitments will likely centre on the following sub-themes: Governance, including institutional strengthening;
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Website |
https://globalcompactrefugees.org/multistakeholder-pledge-peacebuilding-and-conflict-preventionMultistakeholder Pledge: Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention | The Global Compact on Refugees | UNHCR (globalcompactrefugees.org) |
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Initiative/Partnership Name |
Inclusive housing policy |
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Partners (please list all partners) |
UNHCR, Inter-American Development Bank, Ministry of Urban Development and Housing (MIDUVI) |
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Relevant SDGs (list all relevant goals) |
SDG1 |
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Member States benefiting from it |
Ecuador |
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Description (max 150 words) |
The Ecuadorian MIDUVI issued a new ministerial agreement that specifically includes persons in situation of human mobility, those in need of international protection, or with an exceptional or humanitarian visa. The agreement provide access to “lease-purchase” housing options and the ability to apply for mortgage loans for social/public housing based on credit history from abroad |
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Website |
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Mega Pledge on Economic Inclusion and Social Protection (Global Refugee Forum) |
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Partners (please list all partners) |
Refugee Self-reliance initiative, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM-USA), Kingdom of Netherland, IGAD, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark; Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (Germany); ILO, IPA, Poverty Alleviation Coalition, Joint Data Center on Forced Migration, J-Pal, IFC, UNICEF, OECD, UNHCR |
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Relevant SDGs (list all relevant goals) |
SDG1, SDG 8, SDG 10 |
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Member States benefiting from it |
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Description (max 150 words) |
The mega pledge on economic inclusion and social protection aims to galvanize concrete commitments from a wide range of stakeholders to advance the self-reliance of refugees, other forcibly displaced and stateless people, and host communities. It advocates for inclusive law and policy to enhance economic inclusion; access to agricultural land; food security; local and remote employment and decent work; finance and financial services; entrepreneurship; training and lifelong learning; and inclusion into national social protection systems. Over 50 initiatives and multi-stakeholder pledges contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda as per an overview here: https://globalcompactrefugees.org/pledges-contributions/multistakeholder-pledges-global-refugee-forum-2023 |
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Website |
mega-pledge on economic inclusion and social protection; Over 50 initiatives and multi-stakeholder pledges contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda as per an overview here: https://globalcompactrefugees.org/pledges-contributions/multistakeholder-pledges-global-refugee-forum-2023 |
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Initiative/Partnership Name |
Global Data Sharing Framework Agreement |
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Partners (please list all partners) |
UNHCR, World Bank |
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Relevant SDGs (list all relevant goals) |
SDG1, |
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Member States benefiting from it |
Low- and middle-income hosting countries |
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Description (max 150 words) |
The Global Framework Data Sharing Agreement facilitates timely access to data related to the socio-economic condition of refugees, internally displaced and stateless populations, enabling the World Bank to design targeted programs that build long-term economic resilience and individual potential. At the same time, access to World Bank country data can inform UNHCR’s assistance to forcibly displaced and stateless people as well as host communities. |
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Website |
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Initiative/Partnership Name |
UN Common Pledge 2.0 |
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Partners (please list all partners) |
32 Agencies ECLAC, FAO, ILO, IFAD, IOM, ITC, ITU, OCHA, OHCHR, PBF, UNEP, UPEACE, UNAIDS, UNCTAD, UNDCO, UNDESA, UNDGC, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UN Habitat, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNIDO, UNODC, UNOPS, UNRISD, UNRWA, UNV, UN Women, WFP, WHO. 43 UNCTs (Angola, Argentina, Belize, Plurinational State of Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Mexico, Republic of Moldova, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Republic of North Macedonia, Pakistan, Panama, State of Palestine, Thailand, Republic of Türkiye, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Zambia.) |
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Relevant SDGs (list all relevant goals) |
SDG1, SDG2, SDG3, SDG4, SDG5, SDG6, SDG7, SDG8, SDG9, SDG10, SDG11, SDG12, SDG13, SDG15, SDG 16, SDG 17 |
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Member States benefiting from it |
Refugee hosting countries |
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Description (max 150 words) |
• Promote the integration of refugees in all UN analysis, policies, and plans, including UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks and Humanitarian Response Plans. • Support host countries to include refugees in national and subnational datasets, plans, budgets, and service delivery systems, and to facilitate their access to national and local services alongside host communities such as but not limited to education, health, water & sanitation, housing, and social protection; as well as access to decent work; • Advocate for international responsibility-sharing in support of refugee hosting countries, including in the form of financing and/or budget support. • Advance meaningful participation of refugees in UN planning processes and advocate for their meaningful participation in the development and implementation of all plans that concern them. |
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Website |
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Initiative/Partnership Name |
Multistakeholder Pledge on the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus (Global Refugee Forum) |
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Partners (please list all partners) |
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Relevant SDGs (list all relevant goals) |
SDG1, SDG 16, SDG 17 |
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Member States benefiting from it |
Refugee hosting countries; Countries of origin |
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Description (max 150 words) |
This Multistakeholder Pledge aims to:
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Website |
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Initiative/Partnership Name |
Joint Programme Excellence and Targeting Hub |
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Partners (please list all partners) |
UNHCR, WFP |
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Relevant SDGs (list all relevant goals) |
SDG2 |
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Member States benefiting from it |
Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Jordan, Mauritania, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia
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Description (max 150 words) |
The Joint Hub provides support to UNHCR-WFP country offices to strengthen joint assessments, monitoring and analysis, the development of targeting strategies, improved accountability to affected populations, joint programming and data sharing and data systems interoperability with an aim to ensure assistance is targeted based on need and in support of refugee self-reliance. The initiative fosters collaborative action between WFP and UNHCR with governments and development actors through a shared vision and responsibility, to strengthen inclusion and to support an ethical humanitarian exit. The following thematic areas are of key focus: Strategic planning programmme design, and policy, generating evidence through joint assessments and analysis, ensuring needs-based assistance via data-driven targeting and prioritization, putting people at the center by ensuring accountability to affected people; ensuring robust data sharing and systems interoperability, and capturing and disseminating learning and best practices.
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Website |
6. In the Political Declaration adopted at the 2023 SDG Summit, Member States committed to using the review of the high-level political forum at the 78th session of the General Assembly to further strengthen the follow-up and review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, harnessing data to track progress in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals and targets, strengthening analysis of the interlinkages across the Goals and targets, including policy implications of their synergies and trade-offs. Please provide your organization’s recommendations, if any, in this regard.
• Strengthen follow-up and review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda at HLPF
• Harnessing data to track progress in implementation
• Strengthening analysis of the interlinkages across Goals and targets, including policy implications of their synergies and trade-offs
• Other suggestions
For UNHCR, in line with the Global Compact on Refugees, ensuring that refugees are included in national plans needs effective monitoring of each goal, disaggregated by demographic and other factors, and with a strong cross sectoral analysis to monitor trends and opportunities across socio-economic sectors. As such, key factors for UNHCR are as follows:
- Interoperability: achieving the SDGs requires comparable data with a common approach to classifying and analyzing data. In line with the recommendations of the HLCP WG on Data Governance and the HLCM Task Team on Data Sharing, it is important to ensure data frameworks, standards and tools are in place for the UN system and their work with Member States to monitor progress and achieve the SDGs.
- Capacity building: recognizing the diverse SDG targets and the goal of leaving no one behind, evidence on the needs of vulnerable population groups is needed. The UN system can build capacity and advocate for the inclusion of vulnerable populations including refugees and stateless communities in host countries.
- Analytical capacity: as set out in UN 2.0, building modern data expertise is about improving how we collect, handle, govern and use data from more diverse sources for better insights and action. Scaling up analytical capacity for planning and strategic foresight can help advance the SDGs. This will require greater investment in human resources and analytical capacity in programme development and implementation.
- Public-private partnerships: The High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism’s (HLAB) report: A Breakthrough for People and Planet, recognizes the value of the private sector in a networked multilateral system to advance the SDGs. New approaches and solutions that can unlock access to data and support re-usability need the engagement and support of private sector actors.