About UNDP in Saudi Arabia

King Salman and the UN Secretary-General António Guterres (Photo by: SPA)

Since its foundation in Riyadh in 1965, UNDP has been a key development partner to the Saudi government, in strong partnership with civil society and in response to the nation's development needs. The areas addressed are tailored to meet the Kingdom’s evolving development priorities, in particular as they are represented in the Eight National Development Plan (2005-2009) and in the Ninth National Development Plan (2010 – 2014), which focus on reducing poverty, enhancing the management of environment and energy, raising standards of living, improving the quality of life for all, augmenting the role of women and youth in national development, optimizing globalization benefits by improving the productivity of the economy, strengthening the science and technology base and a solid research and development capacity, and enhancing the performance of the public sector as well as partnerships for development.  

For more than 49 years, UNDP has been working closely with the government in Saudi Arabia to find solutions for sustainable human development. Saudi Arabia's prosperity enables it to offer its citizens one of the highest standards of living in the world. At the same time, such wealth is not matched by a corresponding level of human development. Given this special condition, UNDP partners with its stakeholders in the country to build a strong national capacity that protects the environment, strengthens the public sector, and pays special attention to the needs of youth. In all of our work, we promote the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women.  

UNDP in Saudi pursues the National Implementation (NIM) modality for development projects with the key objective of enhancing the national capacities in delivering and maintaining results. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is the coordinating agency for UNDP-supported projects, whereas the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MOEP) is a key partner which sets the national directives of planning in terms of five-year National Development Plans (NDPs). UNDP and MOFA usually agree on specific short-term outcomes that are in line with the national development priorities as set out by the relevant NDP as well as in line with the corporate orientation of UNDP. For instance, the present Country Programme Document for the period 2012-2016 focuses on three outcomes as follows: 1.Social Empowerment and Institutional Strengthening with Emphasis on Youth; 2.Enhanced Policies and Strategies for Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and the Environment; and 3.Sustainable Development Mainstreamed across the Economy.  

UNDP in Saudi Arabia partners with various governmental actors, non-governmental organizations, civil societies, UN agencies and other organizations. The decision makers vary according to the projects and the efforts it entails. The Resident Representative and the Resident Coordinator of the UN in Saudi Arabia collaborate with these actors in the decision making processes.