Midterm Review of Strategic Plan 2018-2021

The 2018 evaluation of UNDP support for poverty reduction in the least developed countries (LDCs) revealed weaknesses in our approach, including a need to rethink our tools and programme design. Determined to learn from this and from the 2019 Human Development Report’s focus on inequalities, we are working hard to strengthen our impact on multidimensional poverty and reorient our approach to social protection.

The tremendous expertise and experience found throughout UNDP are not always well connected. The Global Policy Network is not yet fully up and running nor is it sufficiently well networked with the Accelerator Labs, country offices, Country Support Platforms and all the parts of UNDP that need to be properly joined up to share experiences, scale up successful experiments and achieve large-scale impact.

In response to requests from governments for more integrated support, UNDP is moving from a project- to portfolio-based approach aimed at whole-of-society solutions. This is not easy in an organization which is largely project-funded. This funding model limits our capacity to manage portfolio interventions and demonstrate larger-scale impact. It also constrains our ability to deploy staff flexibly across the organization since most staff resources are project-linked.

While our Signature Solutions are designed to address complex development challenges, we have further to go in ensuring they are truly integrated to deliver results across multiple sectors. Insights from performance analysis and machine learning can help identify the most effective combinations of Signature Solutions. While 60 Country Support Platforms have been established, some are more akin to rebranding and are not yet true "integration engines".

Embedding fast-changing digitalization throughout UNDP and in our programme offers is vital if we are to replicate and scale-up successful initiatives. The COVID-19 pandemic has catapulted our efforts in this direction and is providing rapid evidence of how we can best use digital approaches for impact at scale.

While the UN System-Wide Action Plan on Gender Equality rates UNDP as one of the best performing agencies in 2019, we still have further to go in translating strategy into an operational framework that delivers meaningful results. Tackling the causes of gender inequality—like entrenched discriminatory norms—and ending gender-based violence, are serious challenges we must meet. Inside UNDP, we have done much to improve our working culture, including through concrete actions to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment. Gender parity among staff has been maintained, but gender parity in middle management and the representation of staff from programme countries at D1 level and above still need improvement.

Streamlining business processes takes time. The "clustering" project is taking longer than hoped, partly due to the requirements of personnel regulations. Our efforts to work more with the private sector are constrained by longstanding, sometimes anachronistic, rules that sometimes slow us down.

The trend towards more flexible, pooled funding is welcome, but we have not yet reached our targets for regular (core) resources. While contributions increased from $612 million in 2017 to $624 million in 2018 and $629 million in 2019, we are aiming for the $700 million mark. Evidence shows that offices with a higher proportion of core funding achieved better development performances.