International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction - Joint op-ed By Achim Steiner, Patricia Espinosa and Robert Glasser

UNDP Philippines and the Philippine Business for the Environment produced the publication, Transformational Business: Private Sector Contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals, which documents the actual and potential contribution of the private sector in achieving the SDGs.

Join us at the 2017 Regional Knowledge Exchange to learn how countries across the region are working to understand and leverage the interlinkages among goals and targets. How institutional coordination mechanisms facilitate coherence across sectors and between tiers of government. How one can move from short- and medium- term planning to planning for the future. How budgets can be aligned and financing flows directed to achieve the Agenda 2030.

Almost four years after Super Typhoon Haiyan devastated the Eastern Visayas region in the Philippines, recovery efforts are continuing to help the affected communities to get back on their feet again. Tacloban City, Haiyan's ground zero, is now bustling again and gradually regaining its foothold as the regional economic hub. The United Nations Development Programme has been working with the European Union, national and local governments, and non-government organisations to support efforts at building back better.

Organized by UNDP and Rappler, and now on its 6th year, the Social Good Summit in the Philippines will challenge us to take this a step further and examine the purpose of innovation and will push back to the center stage the massive and urgent needs that society faces.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)'s Anti-Corruption for Peaceful and Inclusive Societies in Asia-Pacific 2016-2020 (ACPIS) Project gathered in Manila, Philippines national country researchers, together with regional and global experts, to plan a new UNDP research report on the ‘Linkages between Corruption and Violent Extremism in the Asia-Pacific Region’

A new report, New Horizons: How Inclusive Business is Helping Achieve the SDGs in the Philippines, outlines the role that private sector can play in meeting these targets and improving the lives of low income Filipinos.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Impact Hub announce the international finalists of the Accelerate2030 initiative, including a social enterprise from the Philippines.

The Australian Government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are boosting support for and encouraging investment in social enterprises in the Philippines through the creation of an innovative partnership for social impact investing.

A delegation from the Government of Myanmar (GoM) visited the Philippines from 19 – 23 June 2017 and met with Philippine Government counterparts and civil society representatives to learn and share knowledge on the systematic integration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in legislation, planning, advocacy, monitoring, and budgeting.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) welcomes Achim Steiner as he begins a four-year term as Administrator of the Organization.

The Philippines will set its voluntary commitments to protect and conserve the oceans at the Philippine Ocean Conference held in Cebu City on 16-17 May 2017.The conference is in response to the United Nations’ call for concrete actions to protect the oceans and achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14: Life Below Water.

A new report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) showcases ten projects that are transforming the course of development in the Asia-Pacific region. Entitled “10 Solutions to Help Meet the SDGs,” the report describes large-scale projects in ten countries in the region – Bangladesh, China, India, Iran, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste – that have demonstrably accelerated progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Missing in Action: Loss of clients from HIV testing, treatment, care and support services: case studies of gay men and other men who have sex with men in Manila - The aim of this study was to document why significant numbers of men who have sex with men based in Metropolitan Manila (also known as Greater Manila, Metro Manila and Manila) currently do not access HIV services at different levels of the HIV treatment cascade.

Sharing the same values and objectives, the EU and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are natural partners – and they have been so for over 15 years, working in over 100 countries, including in the Philippines.

Some 400 million people in Asia and the Pacific still confront poverty as part of their daily lives due to widening income inequality, despite the region’s impressive gains in reducing income poverty in recent decades, according to a new report launched by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in a forum in Bangkok, Thailand. The report, titled Eradicating Poverty and Promoting Prosperity in a Changing Asia-Pacific, notes that on top of the 400 million people — or one in ten — in the region living in extreme poverty, more than one in four people in Asia and the Pacific’s developing countries experience poverty in multiple dimensions. This includes additional deprivations that impact their health, education, and standard of living.

Exclusion of women, ethnic minorities, and people living in remote areas create chronic barriers that have stymied human development progress and led to significant disparities within the Asia and the Pacific region, leaving many behind. A stronger focus on those excluded groups, and on actions to dismantle these barriers is urgently needed to ensure sustainable human development for all. These are among the key findings of the Human Development Report 2016 entitled ‘Human Development for Everyone’, released today by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Communities in Eastern Visayas, including in Samar and Eastern Samar, now have more disaster-resilient infrastructure and livelihood with the support of the government and international development partners like the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

More than three years after Super Typhoon Yolanda hit Visayan provinces, recovery efforts continue for communities with the recent turnover of disaster-resilient infrastructure supported by the European Union in Tacloban and Palo in Leyte and in Balangkayan, Hernani and Quinapondan in Eastern Samar.

Finance ministers and senior officials from 15 developing economies across Asia and the Pacific met at the Asian Development Bank headquarters in Manila to discuss enhanced economic and financial responses to climate change. he 3-day regional consultation of the Vulnerable Twenty Group of Ministers of Finance (V20) aims to mobilize international, regional, and national investment for climate action, as well as discuss financial instruments for disaster risk reduction, public financial management, and carbon pricing. It is supported by ADB, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank Group, and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery.

UNDP in the Philippines and The Economist Asia co-hosted the Executive Dialogue on Implementing LGBTI Inclusion in Asia,w/ 30+ representatives from various businesses in the Philippines sharing experiences,challenges and best practices on LGBTI inclusion.

Legislators and local chief executives of the province of Mindoro are committing full support to localize the Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (PBSAP) 2015-2028 and biodiversity financing in Mindoro Island.

Celebrating the Month of Overseas Filipinos in December of every year, in line with the International Migrants Day, is recognizing the valuable role and productive contribution of migrants both in the Philippines and their countries of destination. With remittances expected to reach USD 28 billion (P1.4 trillion) for 2016, the equivalent of 10% of GDP, the contribution of overseas Filipinos to the Philippine economy is unquestionable. About 20% of all households in the Philippines receive these remittances. Migration has brought immense benefits.

Forty-five CEOs and representatives from 22 companies along with delegates from the government and development institutions gathered in an event organized by the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Business Call to Action to discuss ways on how to make their businesses more responsive to the needs of underserved communities through Inclusive Business (IB).

International Biodiversity Day offers a timely reminder of the importance of effective management of a country’s natural wealth. Few places in the world are as rich in biodiversity as the Philippines: considered as one of 18 mega-biodiverse countries, harboring more diversity of life per hectare than any other country in the world. This immense natural wealth (and it is a remarkable asset) is however at significant risk.

Demographic change in Asia and the Pacific is happening at a rate the world has never seen. If countries do not start planning for this demographic change, they will miss out on a unique opportunity to boost growth and investments for the future, says the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its latest Regional Human Development Report. They also risk a surge in youth frustration, exacerbating instability and conflict.

This case study pertains to an assessment conducted by the Basel Institute on Governance, in collaboration with UNDP’s Global Anti-Corruption Initiative (GAIN), of a social accountability monitoring project in the municipality of San Miguel, Bohol in the Philippines. Called Bayaniham Undertaking Living in a Healthy and Organised Neighborhood or BULHON sa Panguma (BULHON), the project involves the monitoring of agricultural subsidies and was developed and implemented by the Government Watch (G-Watch) programme of the Ateneo School of Government in Manila.

The Philippines is one of 17 mega diverse countries, harboring more diversity of life per hectare than any other country in the world. Yet encroachment in forested areas, pollution, over fishing, poor land management practices, are leading to biodiversity loss at an alarming rate. (Photo: BIOFIN)