Poverty Reduction
The United Nations Development Programme works to make real improvements in
people’s lives and in the choices and opportunities open to them. Guided by the
Millennium Declaration and its key benchmarks for measuring progress – the
Millennium Development Goals – UNDP promotes inclusive development and works to
reduce poverty in all its dimensions.
Key areas of UNDP global support include:
• MDG Strategies – raising awareness of MDGs and advocating for countries and
sub-national regions to adopt and adapt MDGs; supporting the development of
capacities in countries to assess what is needed to achieve the MDGs, to
conceptualize policies and to design strategies and plans, and providing
hands-on support to countries to scale up implementation of initiatives to
achieve the MDGs;
• Poverty Assessment and Monitoring – supporting the design and setting up of
poverty monitoring and assessment systems to track progress on poverty outcomes;
• Gender and Poverty - working with national partners to include women in
planning, budgeting, and policy-making processes in a meaningful way and to
promote women’s and girls’ economic rights and opportunities;
• Inclusive Development - provides policy advice in areas such as employment
strategies, job creation and social safety nets and developing the capacity of
governments to formulate strategies and fiscal policies that stimulate pro-poor
growth, reduce poverty and achieve the MDGs;
• Development Cooperation and Finance – supporting national governments to
improve national aid management to maximize effectiveness of aid and overall
development results;
• Trade, Intellectual Property and Migration – supports developing countries in
the areas of foreign direct investment, intellectual property rights, technology
transfer, and facilitating aid for trade;
• Participatory Local Development – supports localization of the MDGs,
developing capacities of local governments and empowering local communities;
• Private Sector – promotes the development of vibrant private enterprises that
create jobs and provide goods and services for the poor.
Actions undertaken by UNDP with the European Commission
Poverty reduction is at the forefront of development initiatives and is
reflected in the policies of both UNDP and the European Commission toward the
eradication of poverty and the achievement of the MDGs. With the assistance and
funding of the European Commission through the European Parliament and its
Member States, UNDP and the European Commission are able to assist countries in
formulating, implementing and monitoring MDG-based national development
strategies cantered on inclusive growth and gender equality.
The contribution of UNDP and the European Commission in the area of Poverty
Reduction and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals cuts across
all the eight areas highlighted above. The partnership is multifaceted and
covers all the developing regions of the world. It includes projects that focus
on: providing training and access to employment opportunities in countries
including Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Timor-Leste, Tajikistan and Turkey;
agricultural development and productivity in countries such as Tajikistan and
Belize; infrastructure construction in Cambodia and Timor-Leste; facilitation of
economic growth and development, small market economy development and trade in
Tajikistan, Timor-Leste and Turkey, support to internally displaced persons and
host communities to enhance productive safety nets through a cash for work
programme in Eritrea, improving health, nutrition and population in Bangladesh
and support to addressing the recent food crisis in a number of countries,
including Liberia, Cuba, and Eritrea through the EC’s Food Facility window.
In the area of Migration and Development, the European Commission is funding a
€15 million programme implemented by the UNDP Brussels Office in collaboration
with IOM, UNFPA, UNHCR and ILO. The ‘EC-UN Joint Migration and Development
Initiative (JMDI)’ is providing funding to Civil Society Organizations and Local
Authorities in sixteen UNDP programme countries (Algeria, Cape Verde, Ecuador,
Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Jamaica, Mali, Moldova, Morocco, Nigeria,
Philippines, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Tunisia). The 54 small-scale development
projects, which began in late 2009, each receive funding of up to 200,000 and
are being implemented by CSOs and local authorities based in the EU in
collaboration with local CSOs and local authorities, and focus on the JMDI
thematic areas: Migrant Capacities; Migrant Communities; Migrant Rights and
Migrant Remittances. For more about the JMDI
click here.
