Voices around the world are demanding leadership and action in 2015 on poverty, inequality and climate change. These universal challenges demand global action, and this year presents unprecedented opportunities for achieving the future we want. This is the year when world leaders come together to adopt a new agenda for sustainable development. The new global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will guide policy and funding for the next 15 years, beginning with a historic pledge to end poverty.

For decades now, UNDP has demonstrated great effectiveness in influencing policy and building capacity as a trusted partner for stakeholders at the national, regional and global levels. Yet UNDP recognizes that it must do all of this better, and with a sharper focus, to meet present challenges and continue to deliver lasting and measurable development impact.

UNDP in Focus highlights our key actions over the past year and their impact on the lives of beneficiaries around the world. The report also outlines the ongoing restructuring process that will ensure UNDP is fit for purpose in the new post-2015 landscape.

Highlights

• 2015 is the year in which the 15-year quest to achieve the Millennium Development Goals concludes, and a new era of global development commitments is expected to be launched with the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals by world leaders in September.
• Despite impressive MDGs progress on poverty reduction in recent years, there are still 1 billion people living on less than $1.25 a day.
• In 2014, UNDP created nearly 1 million jobs in low-income communities, and helped to boost earnings and strengthen livelihoods for millions of others.
• UNDP, with its $1.3 billion portfolio of climate change projects in 140 countries, is a leader of UN efforts to combat global warming.
• Through our electoral support programmes, UNDP helped to register 18 million new voters worldwide (including nearly 4 million in Afghanistan alone).