ON ITS 50^TH ANNIVERSARY,
UNDP IS LOOKING TOWARDS THE FUTURE

UN Charter calls for "higher standards of living, full employment and conditions of economic and social progress and development."

The UN Special Fund begins operations, to support development projects worldwide, such as a land and water resources survey in Brazil (pictured). Both the EPTA and the Special Fund focus on sharing development knowledge through fellowships and technical assistance.

UNDP partners with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and 42 countries to conquer desert locusts, which ravage crops and threaten famine. The battle is won by 1970, and the campaign is a model for future projects that span regions and continents.

With world population growing at a faster rate, and a post-war “baby boom” in industrialized countries, the United Nations Fund for Population Activities becomes operational under UNDP.

UNDP launches TOKTEN, a programme that sends expatriate development experts back to their country or region of origin to support projects there. The rationale? People who know the culture and language of a place are more effective. The programme starts with one Turkish man returning home to help an engineering project there, and within 10 years it is operating in 25 countries.

UNDP supports the ongoing fight against river blindness, a parasitic disease caused by the female blackfly; aerial spraying clears more than 1.3 million square kilometers of the blackfly infestation. At the same time, UNDP co-sponsors an effort to eradicate the guinea worm (such as in Nigeria, pictured), another parasite that disables over 10 million people per year, mostly in Africa.

In the early 1980s, UNDP supported Argentina’s return to democracy, helping the country attract experts from worldwide on governance and anti-corruption measures. Similar innovations have since aided other democratic transitions in South America and beyond. In addition to other work on governance, UNDP now supports an election somewhere in the world every two weeks.

Former UNDP Administrator William Draper (1986-1993) reflects on his tenure, and cites his two proudest accomplishments as his role in launching the Human Development Report, and in ensuring that UNDP “aggressively recognized half of humanity”—women.

UNDP publishes the first annual Human Development Report, which takes an unprecedented big-picture look at development. The new report combines three indices—life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rates, and purchasing power—to create a single Human Development Index.

Former UNDP Administrator Gus Speth (1993-1999) calls UN staff the “last great collection of idealists on the planet.” In this video, he recalls how, in addition to serving as Administrator of UNDP, he was called upon to coordinate the development activities of the entire United Nations system; his innovations helped turn UNDP into a more effective and cost-efficient organization.

UNDP expands its work fighting HIV by taking a leadership role in the formation of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). UNDP makes the case that HIV is a development priority, and supports the creation of an African network on HIV and human rights. In later years, a partnership between UNDP and the Global Fund helps save 2.2 million lives by supporting the implementation of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria programmes in low- and middle-income countries.

Former UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch-Brown (1999-2005) says that during his time in “the best job in the world,” the organization focused more on its strengths—good governance, poverty reduction, and environment and sustainability. In the video above, he also talks about the significance of the Millennium Development Goals, and offers a vision of the future of UNDP and development.

UNDP founds the Equator Initiative, a programme that recognizes local sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities. The Initiative awards the biannual Equator Prize for innovative work in this area. One of the inaugural winners is Bolsa Amazônia, in Brazil, an initiative dedicated to sustainable enterprises in rural forest communities of Amazonia; one of its projects makes paper out of natural resources other than timber forests, such as leaves and flowers. Paper production is a leading cause of global deforestation.

The UN's "Delivering as One" initiative was launched in 2007 to determine how the United Nations' work could be more coherent, effective and efficient. A pilot cohort of 8 countries (pictured, UN Resident Coordinators of those countries meet with UNDP Administrator Helen Clark) explore ways for the UN to work more cohesively, reduce costs for governments, and accelerate progress to achieve internationally agreed-upon development goals. Now more than 50 countries have voluntarily adopted the "Delivering as One" approach, and UN member states recognized it in a 2012 resolution. UNDP, as custodian of the UN Resident Coordinator system and Chair of the UN Development Group, has played a vital role in the initiative.

UNDP partners with the UN Foundation, the 92nd Street Y, and Mashable to organize the first annual Social Good Summit (SGS). Taking place in New York City and in UNDP Country Office locations, the Summit engages citizens worldwide on the same pressing concerns that occupy world leaders at the UN General Assembly. By 2015 (pictured), the Summit includes events in 109 countries and territories.

Recognizing the potential to get people worldwide involved in its work, UNDP launches Digital Good, a web platform that enables users to learn about and support sustainable development.