Our focus

Ethiopia and UNDP in action

Integrated development solutions driven by country priorities and UNDP’s new Strategic Plan.

Our Strategic Plan 2022-2025 introduces the evolution of #NextGenUNDP into #FutureSmartUNDP. More than a mantra, it is our new benchmark for success in the future of development. Building on UNDP’s 50 years of expertise across 170 countries, this new approach allows us to focus and prioritize where country demands are greatest. By working together in this way, we aim to expand people’s choices for a fairer, sustainable future, with people and planet in balance.

Programme priorities and partnerships

Aligned fully with Ethiopia's Home-Grown Economic Reform and guided by the UNDP Strategic Plan, 2022-2025, the emerging UNDP strategic offer for Africa and the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), the next programme will assist Ethiopia to overcome its structural challenges as it strives to become a democratic, peaceful and prosperous middle-income country. UNDP will support a successful transition to democratic governance, address drivers of conflict to consolidate and build peace, foster enabling conditions for expanded job creation by the private sector (especially SMEs) and accelerate the transition to a green economy resilient to climate change. Gender equality and women’s empowerment will be embedded across all areas of work. These priorities capitalize on strengths demonstrated under the past programme while adapting to new realities and opportunities, retaining an ability to respond flexibly to COVID-19 and other unforeseen developments.

Across all of its priorities, UNDP will apply principles drawn from the human-rights based approach that are strongly embedded in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, namely:
(a) Inclusion, targeting those left behind, as defined in the Common Country Analysis, especially women and youth (15-30 years) and among them, those below the national poverty line who are unemployed, exposed to violence, displaced, facing discrimination, have a disability or are marginalized in civic and political spaces. Location targeting will focus on poorer secondary and tertiary urban settlements and rural zones in three to four regions, identified with the Government, that are representative of the highlands, rift valley and lowland pastoralist areas.
(b) Resilience of individuals, especially women and youth, (female-headed) households and communities, emphasizing increased capacities to foresee, prepare for and bounce back stronger from a wide variety of shocks.
(c) Sustainability, ensuring that any development gains made are within the capacity and resources of the country and do not compromise prospects for future generations.

 

Our work

See how our integrated signature solutions – powered by digitalization, innovation and development financing – are accelerating impact and scale in Ethiopia

 

Gender

UNDP recognizes that gender equality is a fundamental human right and a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world. Gender equality is therefore central to UNDP’s interventions to achieve the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as other commitments agreed upon by the UN Member States.

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Democratic Governance and Peacebuilding

To support a peaceful transition to a democratic polity, UNDP will contribute to an enabling framework, deepening of critical capacities, strengthening of norms and practices and greater voice and empowerment of those left behind, especially women.

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Inclusive Economic Transformation

To help achieve shared prosperity, UNDP will narrow its focus to financial inclusion and the ecosystem for entrepreneurship, targeting youth, especially young female
entrepreneurs. UNDP will offer market-based solutions for growth and development of SMEs in six dimensions:
policy advice; skilling; business development services; enterprise development; project preparation and development; and finance. The focus will be on connecting elements of the ecosystem into one whole and transforming them. This component will tackle credit rationing for SMEs, ensuring that women gain access to financing

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Climate Resilience and Environment Sustainability

To sustain development gains and increase resilience, UNDP will promote leapfrogging to a green economy and faster adaptation to climate change. UNDP will support efforts to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change and build resilience through piloting, learning and scaling-up of tested adaptation practices in the ecosystems of the highlands and lowlands that address the poverty-environment nexus. Strategies will include the integrated landscape approach for natural resource management and food security, use of innovative models and tools for monitoring and gender mainstreaming, and integration of climate resilience into policies and strategies. UNDP will continue to engage in implementation of gender-responsive community action plans to ensure integrated adaptation and mitigation responses that simultaneously tackle sustainability and poverty. Support will be provided for upscaling weather index-based and risk insurance systems. At a broader level, UNDP will help update Ethiopia’s nationally determined contribution as part of the Climate Promise Initiative, and support preparation of the third national communication under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and biennial reports. UNDP will sustain and scale up its assistance for natural resource management and conservation of biodiversity.

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