Global Advocacy - UNDP

UNDP helps countries to simultaneously reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development that leads to transformational change, bringing about real improvements in people’s lives.

UNDP promotes an integrated approach to achieving sustainable development that tackles the connected issues of multidimensional poverty, inequality and exclusion, and sustainability while enhancing knowledge, skills and production technologies to reduce risks and sustain development gains.

In this context, UNDP works alongside partners to strengthen capacity and opportunities to reduce poverty and marginalization – focusing on the most vulnerable and excluded population groups – in ways that are sustainable from economic, social and environmental standpoints.

Properly harnessed, international trade – mostly undertaken by private enterprises –creates livelihood and job opportunities as well as higher incomes for the poor; provides access to know-how and technology and enhances competitiveness. However, policy and regulatory bottlenecks, lack of vital infrastructure and finance, and weak productive capacity and technology deprive the poor of the opportunity offered by domestic markets and exports.

UNDP advocates for the introduction of policy and regulatory reforms conducive to the development of the private sector, and promotes policy coherence to support economic transformation and leverage the potential of trade for poverty reduction and sustainable development. At the international level, UNDP advocates for the need to establish an enabling international environment through transparent, predictable and fair rules and the extension of support for trade capacity development to allow developing countries, especially the LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS to benefit from trade opportunities.

Least Developed Countries (LDCs)

The LDCs are recognized by the UN as a particular category of countries requiring special support measures in light of their low income, economic and environmental vulnerabilities and low human capital. UNDP advocates for consideration of the special needs of LDCs in international fora across all its areas of work.

UNDP works with LDC governments and other stakeholders to prioritize sustained, inclusive and sustainable growth strategies and aligning trade policy and negotiations to national sustainable development goals and graduation efforts from LDC status. UNDP also assists LDCs to address vulnerabilities arising from global shocks, climate change, and other crises.

UNDP contributes to the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action for LDCs at the global, regional and country levels including through advocacy in the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) and Aid for Trade (AfT) among other global initiatives.

Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs)

UNDP supports the efforts of LLDCs within the framework of the Vienna Programme of Action to develop both trade negotiation and substantive trade capacity in line with national priorities and specific areas of interest, such as trade facilitation.

Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

SIDS face particular challenges in the path towards sustainable development such as limited land area and resource base; small size of the domestic economy and markets which undermine their ability to generate economies of scale; dependence on external markets for vital needs such as energy and food; exposure to price volatility of imports; relative geographical isolation; narrow base of export goods and markets and high vulnerability to natural disasters and climate change with concomitant implications for economic and social development.

UNDP supports SIDS through a variety of programmes at the global, regional and country level and contributes to the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway adopted at the Third UN International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS Conference) in 2014.