UNDPUNITED NATIONS DEVELPOMENT PROGRAMME
GROUP:1

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was
founded on 22nd November 1965 with the merger of the
Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance (EPTA) created in
1949 with an aim of helping the economic and political aspects
of underdeveloped countries. On the other hand, the United
Nations Special Fund, established in 1958 in order to enlarge
the scope of UN technical assistance. It was until in 1971 that
the two organizations were fully combined into UNDP with an
aim of avoiding ‘duplication’ of (their) activities.

The UNDP is said to stand for the United Nations’s global
Development Network/Programme whose function is to
advocate for change and connect countries to knowledge,
experience and resources in helping people build a better life.
It operates in 176 countries and territories, working with nations
on their own solutions to global and national development
challenges.

Headquartered in New York City, the UNDP is funded entirely by
voluntary contributions from member nations. Also, it has
country offices in 166 countries, where it works with the local
governments with an intention of helping countries achieve the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGS).

FUNCTIONS/ OBJECTIVES
To accomplish the Millenuim Development Goals
 Encourage global development,
The protection of human rights
The empowerment of women in all of its programs by focusing much on poverty
reduction, HIV/ AIDS, democratic governance, energy and environment, social
development, and crisis prevention and recovery.
Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its operations
Minimize the rate of corruption, fraud and thefty occurring within the
organisation.

WHO LEADS THE UNDP?
Helen Clark, born in 26th Febuary 1950, became the
Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme in
April 2009. Moreover, she was the first woman to lead the
organization. However, she had served as a Prime Minister in New
Zealand for nine good years (serving 3 successive terms from
1999- 2008).

ACHIEVEMENTS
UNDP Anti-Fraud Policy
Through the OAI’s (Office of Audit and Investigation)effort
this organisation was able to adopt a zero tolerance policy
against frauds and other corrupt practices that are
inconsistence with its standard of conduct or involve a loss
to UNDP’s funds. In summary, it has been able to eradicate
the above said misconducts.

Anti-corruption organisations
Back in 2011, UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime) and UNDP have developed a joint global
campaign which focus on how corruption hinders
effort to achieve the internationally agreed upon
Millennium Development Goals and impacts
education, health, justice, democracy, prosperity and
development.

Global Thematic Programme on Anti-corruption for
Development Effectiveness (PACDE)
The Democratic Governance Group (DGG) developed the
UNDP global programme on anti corruption entitled PACDE
from 2008-2011 whose main objective was to increase
state/ institunal capacity to engage more effectively in
reducing corruption to improve governance and sustain
development.

GOOD GOVERNANCE( UNDP)
Good governance can be seen as the exercise of
economic, political and administrative authority to
manage a country’s affairs at all levels.
Good governance comprises the existence of effective
mechanisms, processes and institutions through which
citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their
legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their
differences.

INDICATORS OF GOOD GOVERNACE
To identify potential gaps and constraints in local policy
implementation;
To identify specific capacity development needs and to
monitor the results of capacity development efforts;
To formulate change plans and solicit donor or peer
assistance for improving specific aspects of local
governance;
To engage civil society and private sector in local
governance; and
To provide an objective account of achievements of local
elected leaders (especially at times of re-elections), and
thus building accountability.

Indices on the performance of the
indicators of all African countries
The aim of the survey is to identify indices that rank or assess
country performance in a diverse set of topics including
competitiveness, governance, social aspects, human rights, the
environment, security and globalization, amongst others.
Indices taken for consideration in this survey cover either a
particular set of countries (such as a geographical region or
income group) or all countries in the world, where data is
available.

Public and private institutions as well as individual scholars
elaborate these indices. Public institutions include
international governmental organizations (such as UNDP or the
World Bank) or federal institutions such as national universities
or government departments
Organizations and academics elaborate composite indices,
based on several indicators or sub-indices. These indicators and
sub-indices are aggregated following some methodology to
give an overall score for the country

African Governance Indicators
• Organization/Author: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
Description and methodology: The ECA’s African Governance Report sets out to measure
and monitor the state of governance in 28 African countries. The scores are sample
averages drawn from the expert surveys for the 28 countries in the African Governance
Project. The indicators first cover political representation, then institutional effectiveness,
then service delivery, then taxes and corruption. The methodology for the study consisted
of a research instrument with three components in 28 project countries: a national expert
opinion survey, a national household sample survey and desk research. The Africa
Governance Indicators are derived from the data collected in the expert panel study,
which contains 83 measures of the perceptions of the nation’s elite in each of 28
countries covered in the study, clustered in 23 groups.

INDICATORS
Safety and Rule of Law
Participation and Human Rights
Sustainable Economic Opportunity
Human Development
Utility

UNDP REPORT ON THE RISE OF THE SOUTH
When developed countries stopped growing between 2008
and 2009 financial crisis, developing economies kept growing
and the world took notice.
The rise of the south is best understood in broad terms as the
story of a dramatic expansion of individual capabilities &
sustained human development progress in countries that are
home to the vast majority of the world’s population.
Some countries that have shown the most growth are Brazil,
China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey.

The middle class in the south is rapidly growing in size,
income and expectations.
The south is now become at par with the north as
breeding ground for technical innovations and creative
entrepreneurship.

The HDI ( human development index)
Over the past few decades the pace of HDI has been fastest in
countries in the low and medium human development categories.
Progress however, requires more than just improvement in HDI. It
will not be desirable or sustainable in the increase in HDI causes the
rising of inequalities in income, unsustainable patterns of
consumption & low social cohesion.
Everyone has a right to a long and fulfilling life according to his/ her
aspirations no one should on the basis od class, race, gender, sex etc.
be doomed to a short and miserable life.

DRIVERS OF DEVELOPMENT TRANSFORMATION.
1. A proactive developmental state.
This is a state that develops policies for both public and private
sectors based on long term vision and leadership, shared norms
and values and rules and institutions that build trust and
cohesion.
It requires countries to start a consistent and balanced approach
to development.
Priorities need to be people centered, promoting opportunities
while protecting people against downside risks.

2. Tapping of Global Markets
Most developing countries have pursued the strategy of ‘’ importing
what the rest of the world knows and exporting what they want’’.
This requires that the economies concerned need to provide for a
gradual and sequenced integration with the world economy. Success is
better achieved this way than by a sudden opening of the economy to
the global market.
The integration should be closely followed by investing in the people,
institutions and infrastructure.

3. Social Policy Innovation
Few countries can sustain a rapid growth without great levels of
public investment, infrastructure, health and education.
Education, health care, social protections, legal empowerment all
enable poor people to participate in growth.
The social policies have to be inclusive, ensuring non-
discrimination and equal treatment is imperative for political
stability.

SUSTAINING THE MOMENTUM.
Ensuring equity –the best tool to achieving this is education. This is because it
boosts self- confidence and makes it easier for one to find better jobs, engage in
public debate and make demands on government for better amenities.
Enabling voice and participation- people should be able to influence the policies
being made and the results achieved by these policies. The youths especially need
to be able to look forward to greater economic and political opportunities.
Confronting environmental changes- there is an urgent need of adopting coping
mechanisms to increase people’s resilience to climate change. Moreso where
agricultural dependent countries are concerned.
Managing demographic change.