#Bernard Mokam-Mojuye

[bernardmokammojuye]

UNDP Programs Target Elections, Humanitarian Crises, Sustainability

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works globally to identify ways of meeting sustainable development challenges head-on. With a major focus on poverty, UNDP agencies seek to improve people’s lives across 170 countries, while protecting the planet. In many cases, its efforts are devoted to meeting the urgent needs of people living in conflict zones.

An example of the latter function came in June 2024, when the UNDP issued a Call to Action for resolving the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The multinational organization committed to finding a way toward a ceasefire, a security framework that everyone could agree on, and the provision of needed goods, equipment, and material for rebuilding. The assistance plan focuses on creating a people-centered, Palestinian-owned approach to lasting engagement with local communities, so as to have the maximum socioeconomic impact.

Early recovery priorities include debris removal, including unexploded ordinance. The organization is formulating emergency job creation efforts that focus on restoring a stable private sector at all levels, including micro and small business. The UNDP will additionally direct infrastructure repair and critical services programs focused on water, sanitation, communications, and electricity, and provide transitional shelter to Gaza residents without housing. Focused on inclusion and protecting people’s rights, the program encompasses mental health and psychosocial support efforts as well.

The UNDP’s sustainability mandate involves implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change. This was emphasized in the July 2024 Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council, which approved a $166 million UNDP Work Plan in support of 23 projects across 20 least developed countries. These projects tackle issues such as biodiversity loss, pollution, and climate change. A related mandate is to deliver affordable renewable energy that reaches an additional 500 million global citizens by 2025.

An example of such a project is a UNDP grant facility opened for applications in July 2024. The focus is on reducing land degradation processes in Kazakstan’s vulnerable semi-desert, steppe, and desert ecosystems. The agency encourages applicants capable of designing collaborative projects that bring together various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and serve to empower youth, women, and other vulnerable groups within local communities. UNDP also oversees outreach efforts such as a "Climate Does Not Wait” contest that engages schoolchildren in coming up with creative solutions to global warming.

Many UNDP programs involve partnerships with local institutions and businesses within the regions covered. The Mselen Partnership has an emphasis on economic empowerment and gender equality, and involves a collaboration with Solomon Islands Telekom Services.

Key elements of this ongoing initiative include working with women market vendors to boost financial literacy and business skills, in the process creating access to micro-insurance, credit, and livelihood protection. The focus is on rural areas across several islands and the process of ensuring that vendors are equipped with the means for digital financial management, including essential tools for making payments and receiving loans.

Another vital aspect of the UNDP mission centers on ensuring transparent, well run democratic elections that help advance human development potential. Through a comprehensive electoral cycle approach, UNDP representatives engage with political parties, media, and governing agencies in supporting the basic tenets of a stable, resilient civil society. This is particularly important for countries in the process of transitioning past authoritarian rule, into multifaceted democratic systems.

In May, 2024, the UNDP Democracy and Elections Project partnered with Mozambique’s National Union of Journalists and Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) in hosting a Media and Elections training series. This program brought together 42 journalists working to better understand the local and national election processes, and ways of ensuring unbiased, accurate electoral reporting. Participants went through interactive exercises that simulated pivotal situation at critical junctures in the electoral process, including the counting and tabulation of ballots.