UN development system contribution to the advancement of the SDGs

The reform of the UN development system, with a reinvigorated Resident Coordinator system at its center, has made UN Country Teams better fit to support national efforts to advance the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, including by strengthening focus on the most vulnerable groups and those left behind.

SDG-related capacity development and technical assistance remain the most prominent UN development system function at the country level, followed by policy advise and thought leadership

To accelerate advancement of the SDGs, the UN development system has adopted a number of innovative approaches

• At least 48 UN Country Teams reported innovation in the deployment of data and digital technologies to help countries address and monitor the pandemic
• In Latin America and the Caribbean, 8 Resident Coordinator Offices are piloting real-time monitoring via social media and mobile platforms to assess how populations are coping

Progress has been made in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment, while also addressing violence against women

The UN development system increased investment in women’s organizations to:

_{*All references to Kosovo on this page shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).}

In 2020, UN Country Teams reported for the first time on a scorecard monitoring support to advancing the UN Youth Strategy

Results found progress across a range of priority areas, with UN Country Teams working with governments and advocating for and with youth.

The Development Coordination Office is working closely with the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth on a UN Country Team information and policy support package to support UN Youth Strategy implementation.

Similarly, the results of the first analysis on the implementation of the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy are notable

Indigenous peoples have been increasingly involved in finding solutions to the issues that affect them, including in response to the compounding risks of COVID-19 and climate change

These efforts include strengthening national data capacities to ensure greater visibility of and response to indigenous peoples and the challenges they face.

UN development system contribution to the COVID-19 response and recovery efforts – a foundation for SDG acceleration

Under Resident Coordinators’ leadership and UNDP’s technical lead, UN Country Teams have also been vital to protect development gains and set countries on a path to a better recovery in the longer-term

• 121 UN Socio-Economic Recovery Plans were prepared, in consultation with host governments, covering 139 countries and territories
• 18 indicators were developed to track the UN’s collective efforts in country
• The work will fold into the Cooperation Framework in 2022 onwards

The UN development system response covers the five pillars of the UN Framework for the Immediate Socio-Economic Response to COVID-19

1. Health First: Protecting health services and systems during the crisis
2. Protecting People: Social protection and basic services
3. Economic Response and Recovery: Protecting jobs, small and medium-sized enterprises, and vulnerable workers in the informal economy
4. Macroeconomic Response and Multilateral Collaboration
5. Social Cohesion and Community Resilience

As the COVID-19 crisis took hold, the UN family came together to ensure that the Development Coordination Office, the Resident Coordinator system and the whole UN could ensure business continuity and make sure the COVID-19 response would lead to a better recovery for the SDGs, further rooting the reforms.

Pillar 1: Health First

Protecting health services and systems during the crisis

Lead entities: UNFPA, WHO and UNICEF

Targeted UN support for the COVID-19 response enabled countries to maintain essential health services despite the spike in demand for acute COVID-related care.

Pillar 2: Protecting People

Social protection and basic services

Lead entities: UNDP, UNFPA, UNHCR, FAO, WHO, UNICEF, WFP and UN Women

UN Country Teams supported governments around the world to adapt, extend and scale-up social protection services, including cash transfers, food assistance programmes, social-insurance programmes and child benefits to support families

UN Country Teams leveraged the social protection programmes developed through earlier allocations of the Joint SDG Fund with up to 20% of budgets reallocated to address COVID-19 impacts, such as better healthcare and lower-cost informal social-protection interventions.

Of the gender-disaggregated figures available this includes:

• 4.7 million women and 6.6 million girls
• 5.6 million men and 6.4 million boys
• 1 million migrants, refugees, stateless persons or internally displaced people
• 250 thousand persons with disabilities

This includes children supported with:

• 8.7 million meals
• 271 thousand cash transfers
• 6.3 million take-home rations

• Over 44 million people benefited from cash transfers
• 32 million people benefited from water and sanitation services
• Over 26 million people received food and nutrition
• Over 17 million people received psychosocial support
• Over 7 million people received legal aid
• Nearly 8 million people received human rights protection

Pillar 3: Economic Response and Recovery

Protecting jobs, small and medium-sized enterprises, and t vulnerable workers in the informal economy  

Lead entities: UNDP, UN Women, IFAD, WFP, ILO and UNICEF

The economic fall-out from the COVID-19 pandemic has hit certain sectors the hardest

Small and medium-sized enterprises, farm workers, the self-employed, daily wage earners, informal-sector workers, refugees, and migrant workers have faced major challenges.

In this context, several UN Country Teams have focused on protecting workers and sectors most affected, including by helping businesses to contain massive layoffs and protecting households and individuals through expanded social-protection, teleworking and work-sharing policies.

Countries reinforced employment policies and a regulatory environment to protect key groups through UN Country Team support

• 52 countries reinforced women protection
• 52 countries reinforced youth protection
• 47 countries reinforced informal workers’ protection
• 47 countries reinforced migrant workers’ protection
• 35 countries reinforced workers with disabilities’ protection

UN Country Teams supported private sector companies and formal and informal sector workers

UN Country Teams supported over 1.3 million formal sector workers and over 580,000 informal sector workers. Also, the UN provided support to around 375,000 companies, mostly micro, small or medium enterprises.

This includes:

• 349 thousand medium and small enterprises
• 24.8 thousand other companies
• 581 thousand informal workers
• 1.3 million formal workers

Pillar 4: Macro-economic Response and Multilateral Collaboration

Lead entities: UNDP, UN Women, FAO, ILO and  UNICEF

With the global economy experiencing the worst recession in 90 years, countries have a massive need for counter-cyclical fiscal and financial support

Countries undertook socio-economic impact assessments, backed by UN Country Teams support with a focus on at-risk populations

• 62 countries focused on economic needs
• 74 countries focused on labour markets
• 79 countries focused on multi-sectoral needs
• 33 countries focused on fiscal and public debt
• 78 countries focused on human impact needs
• 77 countries focused on gender-sensitive needs

Countries implemented policies informed by UN Country Teams, backed by socio-economic impact assessments focused on at-risk populations

• 53 countries focused on socio-economic policies including employment
• 47 countries focused on labour market policies, including food security
• 44 countries focused on fiscal policies
• 50 countries focused on social protection policies
• 47 countries focused on women’s empowerment policies

Pillar 5: Social Cohesion and Community Resilience

Lead entities: UNDP, UN Women, UN-Habitat, UNHCR, ILO and UNICEF

The pandemic placed considerable strains on social cohesion, magnifying existing fault lines and creating new ones

• UN Country Teams, under the technical lead of ILO, helped facilitate over 1,000 national and over 500 sub-national dialogues for employers and business organizations as well as trade unions on how to respond to the pandemic and the increased domestic violence, racism, xenophobia, stigma, and other forms of discrimination, and how to prevent and remedy human rights abuses.

Including the following number of community organizations/institutions:

• Over 7.2 thousand for youth
• Over 49 for human rights (National Human Rights Institutions)
• Over 2.8 thousand for indigenous people
• Over 2.6 thousand for at-risk populations
• Over 1 thousand for informal settlements
• Over 300 for religious groups
• Over 2.7 thousand for fragile settings
• Over 4.6 thousand for livelihood support

The results of the UN socioeconomic response to COVID-19 capture a proportion of the UN development system contribution at the country level to protect and advance sustainable development.

At the same time, they showcase the strong performance of entities on the ground, the ability of the system to deliver together under Resident Coordinator’s leadership and the kind of system-wide results reporting that the UN aims to produce in order to capture its contribution to the advancement of the SDGs

This first reporting effort also provides a clear indication of where UN development system reporting can and must improve as the reforms mature, and will inform further efforts to strengthen a common UN development system approach to measuring system-wide contribution to the SDGs.