UNDP, the UN's global development network which operates on the ground in 166 countries, advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life and open the choices and opportunities. Its mission is to assist countries to accelerate progress on human development. UNDP builds its work on two pillars to best serve the needs of the international community, member states and society at large. The first pillar upholds its role to coordinate and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the UN system as a whole at the country level. And the second one sustains the UNDP as the United Nations lead development organization, providing advocacy, policy and technical support to programme countries by working on the cross-cutting and multisectoral challenges of poverty reduction, democratic governance, crisis prevention and recovery, and environment and sustainable development.

UNDP work in these areas, and in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, supports programme countries in strengthening their own capacities to design and implement development strategies that reflect specific national circumstances and national objectives, within the overall framework of the internationally agreed development goals.

UNDP provides only grant aid from its own core resources and helps developing countries attract additional aid and use it effectively. In all our activities, we encourage the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women. In each country office, the UNDP Resident Representative normally serves as the Resident Coordinator of development activities for the United Nations system as a whole. Through such coordination, UNDP seeks to ensure the most effective use of UN and international aid resources.

At the country level, we are often the “partner of choice” for governments dealing with national and global development challenges. This is because UNDP does not represent any one approach to development; rather, our commitment is to assist partner governments in finding their own approaches, according to their own unique national circumstances. It is also because UNDP, with a long-term presence in almost all developing countries, and extensive networks at the national, regional and global levels, is by its very nature an impartial broker and facilitator. In particular, we often play a pivotal role in helping countries to access development assistance and other forms of support, and to form strategic linkages.

Partnerships

Partnerships are particularly important for UNDP's work and for achieving the MDGs. The eighth MDG, to “develop a global partnership for development," explicitly calls for partnerships, which are essential at all levels – local, national, global – for the attainment of the other seven goals and the values and actions set out in the Millennium Declaration.

Across countries and regions, UNDP as the UN's global development network, uses its global presence to bring together partners from many different backgrounds to share expertise, launch joint ventures and develop long-term solutions. Our partners include governments, other UN agencies, the international financial institutions, bilateral agencies, the private sector and civil society.