Our ocean is life. It gives us food to eat, fresh water to drink, and jobs to make a living. It protects us from the worst effects of climate change. But humanity hasn’t been too kind to our ocean. We’ve polluted, exhausted, and in parts destroyed this valuable resource. Today, 40% of our oceans are considered heavily affected by human activity.

Since the Benguela Current is a shared resource between Angola, Namibia, and South Africa, conventional coastal and ocean management approaches are not enough. UNDP, through a series of projects funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has been assisting the three countries in jointly managing the precious ocean resources they share.

A surge in the number of voluntary commitments to take action to improve the health of the ocean by countries, businesses and civil society groups has been recorded, and more are expected as the Ocean Conference gets underway Monday, 5 June at United Nations Headquarter in New York.

The Ministry of Public Health, together with the Global Fund, UNDP as Principal Recipient, other UN agencies (WHO and UNICEF) and other partners, is launching the national Campaign for the distribution of Long-Lasting Insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) to protect more than 2 million children and adults from malaria, the leading cause of disease and death in the country.

Remarks by Ms. Ruby Sandhu-Rojon Deputy Regional Director, UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa Joint UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS Executive Board June Regular Session 2017 New York   Mr. President of the UNDP Executive Board, Distinguished Members of the Executive Board, Representative of the Government of Cameroon,...

Mr. President, Members of the Executive Board, Colleagues and friends, I am pleased to welcome you to the UNDP segment of the 2017 Annual Session of the Executive Board. These are exciting times for UNDP as we prepare for the arrival of a new UNDP Administrator and UNDG Chair, Mr. Achim Steiner on 19 June. Mr....

No one can deny the effect of climate change as one of the factors that have led to the current food crisis. The severe drought that is raging in this part of the world is wreaking havoc. Nevertheless, other factors must equally be taken into account. The UN Secretary-General recently stated that the combination of conflict, drought and disease has resulted in a nightmare situation.

Preventing Violent Extremism and International Development Agenda: Putting Theory into practice A New York Roundtable Event — 26 May 2017 Assistant Administrator and Director, UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to attend this Roundtable on “putting into practice, the...

The AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA) and UNDP Regional Service Centre for Africa, under the Africa Regional Grant on HIV: Removing Legal Barriers, will host the second Africa Regional Dialogue on HIV, TB and the Law on 3-4 August 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

African governments need to integrate entrepreneurship more fully into their industrialisation strategies, according to the African Economic Outlook (AEO) 2017. The Outlook is produced annually by the AfDB, OECD and UNDP.

The EDI is a composite index made up of three weighted components – the extractive sector’s contribution to export earnings, fiscal revenues and GDP – and ranges from 0 to 100 with 100 being the highest dependence score.

New York — UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa convened a high level event hosted by the African Union Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations on Tuesday 16 May 2017. Billed as a knowledge building and sharing event, the meeting, which was attended by more than 100 participants, including 16 Permanent...

Refugees and host communities turn challenges into opportunities

With climate change, continuing urbanization trends and demographic growth – especially also in coastal areas, the impacts of floods are expected to increase dramatically in the next decades. Finding innovative and sustainable ways to work together with rather than against nature for effective flood risk reduction will be critical.

This first edition of the biennial Africa Data Revolution Report aims to address issues on the process of transforming data ecosystems, from the status quo to an aspirational state where data from both conventional and new sources are being harnessed to better inform decision-making and enable sustainable development with contributions from diverse data communities.

In doing its work, UNDP’s programmes are informed by past experiences and lessons from interventions implemented, wherever the organisation has a footprint, to address emerging issues and new realities– whether in the form of policy support, capacity building, technical advice or knowledge brokering. The issues that define development are unique from country to country and region to region – from climate change to conflicts – the knowledge generated from UNDP’s interventions, when managed efficiently and utilized effectively, has the potential to give the organisation an even more unique character.

Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is with great pleasure and honor that I am attending, on behalf of UNDP, this high-level government seminar on collective leadership. The Gambia is entering a phase of renaissance. The trauma has been deep as it lasted 23 years, almost a generation. It will take sustained...

The Lake Chad basin in Nigeria is on the brink of famine. For seven years, Boko Haram insurgents have descended on communities, driving people from their homes and killing thousands. The level of destruction is breathtaking. But more shocking is the vulnerable position survivors are in now. There are 5.7 million...

People in Mozambique are feeling the impacts of climate change. Natural disasters such as droughts, floods and cyclones are hitting the country hard. However, communities are not prepared for the repercussions. Many locals depend on the environment for their daily needs and disasters increase the risk of them falling into poverty.

In the run up to the Ocean Conference in June, this blog series explores issues related to oceans, seas, marine resources and the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life below water. On Africa’s West Coast, the ocean is everything. For thousands of years, its bounty has provided food for families,...

Climate change portends bigger wildfires that are more difficult to control. As a result, wildfire management is becoming more important in order to reduce the damage to people, the economy and the environment.

Abidjan, 27 April 2017 — The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the GSMA are joining forces to harness the power of mobile technology to accelerate implementation of the universal Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs, otherwise known as the Global Goals, are a universal call to action to end...

Abdoulaye Mar Dieye Growth without resilience is but the ruin of the economy  Financial Afrik: Many African countries have engaged in medium- or long-term emergence programmes. What is your overall analysis of the situation? This is a topical issue. I am aware of a total of 27 African countries engaged in a...

New York, 25 April —13 million people will soon receive long-lasting insecticide treated bednets in some of the hardest to reach and conflict-affected regions of Chad. As regional insecurity continues to affect population movements in the country, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Fund...

North-east Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen are facing conflict and drought and are now approaching famine, with 20 million people near starvation in the worst preventable humanitarian crisis since World War II. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for US$4.4 billion by July to avert “catastrophe” in the four countries.

After more than a decade of conflict in which rape has been used as a weapon, sexual violence is sadly a fact of life for both women and men in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Congolese men and women are working courageously to eradicate this scourge. Here are some of their stories.

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. Mr Steiner’s nomination for UNDP Administrator was forwarded by Secretary-General António Guterres to the General...

UNDP Farewell Party for Helen Clark Statement by M. Abdoulaye Mar DIEYE, UNDP Regional Director New York, 18 April 2017   I have been attending, lately, a series of Farewell parties for Helen Clark. I have heard a bouquet of testimonies on her leadership skills, her political acumen and her phenomenal human touch. No...

Approximately 2.1 million Liberians have registered to vote in the upcoming October 2017 presidential and legislative elections, according to provisional results. Almost half of those registered are women. Voter registration was conducted between 1 February and 14 March 2017. Incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has reached the two-term limit for presidential office, which means a new president will be elected, as well as members of the House of Representatives by the end of 2017.

It is my great pleasure and honor to present this keynote speech at this follow up event to the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on Africa’s development (TICAD VI) on the theme “Achieving the SDGs in Africa through Structural Transformation” that is co-hosted by the Government of Japan, JICA, United...

The Crown Prince is an advocate for UNDP’s efforts to assist Member States achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1- to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. His visit to Liberia is an opportunity to see first-hand the country’s progress in Ebola recovery, in consolidating peace, and plans for taking forward the SDGs.

Abidjan, 31 March 2017 — The second edition of the International Conference on the Emergence of Africa (ICEA) has concluded after three days of discussions on the theme of implementing plans for emergence in Africa. ICEA 2017 began its work on Tuesday, 28 March, after the opening ceremony chaired by H.E....

For the first time ever, Africa now has its own legally recognized umbrella grouping of organisations of persons with disabilities (DPOs) to ensure that decisions concerning disabled people are taken with and by persons with disabilities, their families and their organizations at pan- African, sub-regional, national and local levels. The African Disability Forum (ADF) was formally registered on 15 March 2017 by Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Millions of people are not benefiting from progress, with the gap set to widen unless deep-rooted development barriers, including discrimination and unequal political participation, are tackled. A quarter-century of impressive human development progress continues to leave many people behind, with systemic, often unmeasured, barriers to catching up. A stronger focus on those excluded and on actions to dismantle these barriers is urgently needed to ensure sustainable human development for all. These are the findings of the Human Development Report 2016, entitled ‘Human Development for Everyone’, released today by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The report finds that although average human development improved significantly across all regions from 1990 to 2015, one in three people worldwide continue to live in low levels of human development, as measured by the Human Development Index.

Gambia has long been fraught with deep social and economic inequality. More than 60 percent of its people live in poverty. Data from Gambia Bureau of Statistics indicate that almost 30 percent of the active labor force is unemployed, with slightly higher unemployment rate in the rural areas (31.1 per cent) than the urban area (28.4 per cent). Moreover, unemployment is highest for the youth (39 per cent).

Since December 2016 more than 600 Burundian young women and men wearing t-shirts printed with the message “I commit to peace for my country” have been busy rehabilitating roads, and cleaning and constructing drainage systems in parts of the capital city Bujumbura to help build stronger community ties to reinforce peace.

Lake Tanganyika is one of the world’s natural wonders. Holding about 17 percent of the globe’s surface freshwater, it is also the oldest and the deepest lake in Africa. Bordering four countries (Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and Zambia), it offers a source of livelihood for over 10 million people.

Brussels, 14 March 2017 – Persistent insecurity and fragility in the Central African sub-region can only be addressed if national and regional actors, as well as international partners, prioritize peacebuilding and development of border areas, boost citizen’s engagement and participation, and improve governance...

Efficient conversion technologies and sustainable land management practices save forests and livelihoods.