Geek for Good is China’s first ever UN-led open design challenge, co-hosted by UNDP China and technology giant Baidu. The competition provides a platform to galvanize citizen engagement and inspire people to find tech-based innovative solutions for some of the toughest development challenges in China, and will culminate in the final prize competition in Beijing on 24th April

New York – The President of the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today welcomed the appointment of Achim Steiner as the Organization’s new Administrator.

The Bill China Cannot Afford: Health Economic and Social Costs of China’s Tobacco Epidemic is a groundbreaking report co-authored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The report, launched today, explores the current health, social and economic costs of tobacco on China’s development, and outlines the tobacco control measures that could avert many millions of deaths.

On the morning of April 17, in order to facilitate knowledge sharing and build capacity for increasing community earthquake resilience in Bangladesh, Nepal and China, The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in China, in partnership with National Disaster Reduction Center of China (NDRCC) of Ministry of Civil Affairs of People’s Republic of China launched the Training Course on Earthquake Emergency Search and Rescue in Beijing.

Support for industrialization in Africa received a boost this week with the launch of the Made in Africa Initiative (MIAI) Senior Advisory Board, an initiative that will create a strategic network of top development leaders’ minds to help facilitate the sustainable development of industrialization and economic transformation in Africa by drawing experiences from China and other emerging economies, in line with targets set out by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Norway’s Prime Minister H.E. Erna Solberg led a Norwegian delegation on an official visit to China from 7th to 10th April. The main purpose of the visit was to meet Chinese leaders and renew political and economic cooperation with China.

As the global development architecture continues to change, UNDP is evolving from a donor into an advisor and development service provider; We maintained a $1 billion annual delivery while implementing a challenging change process; In 2017, our goal is to increase domestic public and private co-financing to 15 percent of our delivery as a means of adapting UNDP to the new development landscape.

An assessment tool for Chinese cities has been developed to measure Chinese cities’ performance on sustainable development, based on a set of measurable indicators ranging from income, education, health to pollution, and resource consumption, with an aim to help drive urban development towards a more inclusive and resilient future, says a new urbanization report by The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in China.

To raise public awareness on the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and help China reach the goals and targets set forth by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) China today launched its Massive Open Online Course on Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development Goals (UNDP SDG MOOC) developed in cooperation with NetEase Media, as the first knowledge product to combine the global Agenda and China’s current situation.

China’s global development engagement has been gaining Through a strong partnership between United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Government of China, academic and policy institutions, enterprises and NGOs, UNDP offers development advisory services to help achieve the SDGs in China, as well as through China’s South-South cooperation globally. This brochure offers a glance at the key achievements in 2016 resulting from the China-UNDP Global Partnership, including on China’s development effectiveness and contribution to global governance mechanisms, as well as on specific trilateral projects bringing development solutions on the ground in other developing countries. Underpinned by research and analysis, UNDP aims to offer innovative solutions and inclusive approaches that benefit all stakeholders.

China’s announcement of a total energy consumption cap of 5 tons of coal equivalent comes after the success of the 12th Five-Year Plan from an energy perspective, in which energy and carbon targets were met and surpassed. Between 2011 and the end of 2015, energy intensity fell by 18.2% and carbon intensity declined 20%. These declines are due in large part to the drop in coal consumption: down 3.7% in 2015, following a 2.9% decrease in 2014. The total from all sources of energy in 2015 was 4.3 billion tons of coal equivalent, an increase of less than 1% from the previous year. This markedly slowed consumption, coupled with the decline in heavy industry, suggests that achieving a 5 billion metric ton energy cap will not be challenging.

Endosulfan is an insecticide that has been phasing out globally due to its acute toxicity, potential for bioaccumulation, and its role as an endocrine disrupter that can cause cancerous tumors, birth defects, and other developmental disorders. Because of its threats to human health and the environment, a global ban on the manufacture and use of endosulfan was negotiated under the Stockholm Convention in April 2011.

By Nicholas Rosellini: I recently met Hawa Adams, a vegetable farmer. Hawa lives with her husband and eight children in Tamalgu, a farming community in northern Ghana. She complements her income through a pilot demonstration initiative together with UNDP and local NGO, New Energy. Over the past two years, she and 77 other families in the community have been testing enhanced agriculture production methods using drip- and regular irrigation.