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Articles by Arab States
EU, UNDP and Government of Armenia Launch New Initiative to Restore and Protect Lake Sevan
Yerevan, 22 October 2026 – A new initiative to support the long-term restoration of Lake Sevan and strengthen the resilience of one of Armenia’s most important ecosystems was officially launched today at the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP17) in Yerevan.
New UNDP report calls for redefining security in an era of climate shocks, cybercrime, economic insecurity and distrust
New York and Bangkok, 22 October 2026 – Investments in trusted institutions, AI and digital safeguards, public health protections and disaster preparedness should be treated as essential security investments as interconnected shocks place growing pressure on the safety and well-being of people across Asia and the Pacific, according to a new UNDP report released today.
Beyond the check book: A fractured world needs strategic cooperation
For a farming family in a conflict zone, crisis is rarely a single event. Drought destroys the harvest, food prices surge, and the local clinic loses funding. Any one of these shocks is difficult to withstand. Together, they can erase years of progress in a single season. This is how many crises now unfold. Climate shocks, economic instability, and conflict converge, placing enormous pressure on communities already struggling to cope.
Lake Sevan Through Young Eyes at COP17
Yerevan, 19 October 2026 – The voices and creativity of young people from communities around Lake Sevan took center stage at the COP17 Green Zone today, as the “Youth Vision for Lake Sevan 2050” Artwork Initiative culminated in an award ceremony showcasing how a new generation imagines the future of Armenia’s largest freshwater ecosystem.
Urban October: Banjul
That collective spirit comes alive across numerous initiatives in Greater Banjul. The forthcoming Climate-resilient Banjul: Enhancing Urban Resilience in the Greater Banjul Area initiative is being developed to strengthen long-term urban resilience through ecosystem restoration, improved drainage networks and protected public green spaces. Meanwhile, the Kanifing Circular Waste Hubs Project revolutionizes local waste management while unlocking green entrepreneurship for urban youth.
Call for Proposals for National Catalytic Organisation
Background Since 2014, the Global Support Initiative to territories and areas conserved by Indigenous Peoples and local communities (ICCA-GSI) has been providing direct financial support to improve the recognition and overall effectiveness for biodiversity conservation, sustainable livelihoods and resilience to climate change effects in ICCAs. Phase 2 of the ICCA-GSI was launched to continue this work while focusing on the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) 2030 Targets, specifically: Target...
UNDP Launches Training to Help Nigerian Innovators Scale Solutions to Plastic Pollution
Abuja, Nigeria, 14 October,2026 – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) this week launched a three-day training to help 20 Nigerian innovators, selected under the Global Plastics Innovation Programme (GPIP), turn their ideas for reducing plastic pollution into businesses that can grow and create jobs. The training is the first in a series under GPIP, which is funded by the United Nations Peace and Development Trust Fund (UNPDF).
Global Landscape Analysis: Artificial Intelligence in Electoral Administration
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly becoming part of electoral administration, creating new opportunities to improve efficiency, accessibility and voter engagement, while raising important questions about governance, institutional readiness and electoral integrity. This Global Landscape Analysis examines how electoral management bodies (EMBs) are using, preparing for and governing AI.
Urban October: Rivne
One of the most significant of these is the creation of a municipal business co-working space. In 2025, the city received a grant from the Government of Germany and UNDP in Ukraine to establish it, and Rivne now has a modern space for entrepreneurs. It hosts business events, houses showrooms where local producers can present their goods and includes a space dedicated to the creative industries.
Japan’s animation expertise meets Africa’s emerging talent in new training programme.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in South Africa, under its timbuktoo platform, has partnered with Arc & Beyond Association, Inc. (Arc & Beyond) to deliver an animation talent development programme in Africa.
The face of poverty today: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 2026
There is no one face of poverty, or just one trigger that changes how it impacts a family living with constant vulnerability. The reality is that the risk of poverty, and deeper poverty, has different faces across Asia and the Pacific today. A farmer who still has land, but fertilizer has doubled in price, so she cannot grow all she wants to. A tuk-tuk driver who still has work, but rising fuel costs mean every trip leaves a little less to take home.
A Greener Start for Every Child: New Energy-Efficient Kindergarten Opens in Yerevan
Group photo with development partners. UNDP Associate Administrator Haoliang Xu joined Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan, EU Ambassador to Armenia Vassilis Maragos, Head of EIB Group Regional Representation for the South Caucasus Stella Renita, and UNDP Resident Representative Natia Natsvlishvili to inaugurate the newly renovated kindergarten #156 in Yerevan.
UNDP Associate Administrator met with Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia
Ahead of COP17, UNDP Associate Administrator Haoliang Xu on 15 October met with Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan to reaffirm the strategic partnership between the Government of Armenia and UNDP and discuss priorities for accelerating the country's sustainable development agenda.
Cisco and UNDP Partner to Advance Youth Digital Skills and Employment through EU-Funded NJFP Programme
Abuja, Nigeria | October 9, 2026 – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Cisco have formalised their partnership under the Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme (NJFP) through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at strengthening pathways for young Nigerians to gain future-ready digital skills and access quality employment opportunities.
Protecting nature, sustaining peace
People’s ability to build secure lives is closely tied to the natural world around them. Forests, rivers, wetlands and ocean sustain food supplies, provide livelihoods and help communities withstand climate pressures. The diversity of life within these ecosystems keeps them functioning. Yet these foundations are becoming less secure. More than half of humanity lives in areas hardest hit by deteriorating biodiversity, water and food security, alongside growing health risks and climate impacts.
Connecting people, transforming food systems
Global hunger declined for the third consecutive year in 2025, with 43 million fewer hungry people in the world than at the 2022 peak. Ask most people what “innovation” means and they’ll describe a new technology, product or tool. But what if some of the most important innovations for the future of food are less tangible? What if innovation is also about changing how people work together, how institutions make decisions and how knowledge is shared?
Development as a path to resilience: the view from the Aral Sea region
Crises today rarely come one at a time. Climate change, water scarcity, economic pressure and environmental degradation reinforce one another, and their effects can last for generations. Experience from many countries shows that sustained investment in development is the most reliable path to resilience. Communities with reliable services, stable incomes and strong institutions withstand pressure better, and acting early costs less than responding late.
International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 2026
Poverty is about more than income. It is an empty plate. A home without electricity. A child who cannot go to school. A family without clean water. When these hardships overlap, we call it multidimensional poverty. Today, 1.2 billion live this way. And having a job is not always a way out. Think of a woman selling vegetables at a local market. She works long hours. But still earns too little to support her family. Working harder will not fix that. She needs a place to keep her vegetables fresh.
Urban October: Mérida
Urban October is a month-long campaign focused on sustainable urbanization and resilient cities. As our societies become increasingly urbanized, and the effects of climate change intensify, UNDP works around the world to make cities more livable for all their residents. I arrived in Mérida at the end of that pandemic year, 2020. I came from months of lockdown and anxiety, and the city welcomed me with exactly what I needed most: life.
From farm to table
Every day, we choose what to eat, rarely stopping to think about everything that made that choice possible. Behind a piece of fruit, a vegetable or a bag of flour lies a long chain of actions, knowledge and decisions. Long before food reaches a market, a shop or our plate, it has to be grown, harvested, processed, preserved, transported and sold. At every step along the way, a different way of doing things can change what comes next.
Germany provides €5 million to strengthen long-term stability and recovery in Lebanon
New York, 8 October 2026 – The Government of Germany is providing an additional €5 million to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to support stability and recovery in Lebanon through the country’s Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), bringing its total contribution to the programme to €10 million.
UNDP Associate Administrator met with UNDP Armenia Country Office Staff
On 14 October, UNDP Associate Administrator Haoliang Xu met with UNDP Armenia Country Office staff to reflect on 30 years of UNDP’s partnership with Armenia, recognizing the dedication, professionalism, and collective achievements that have contributed to three decades of development impact.
What is Sexual Harassment
What is Sexual Harassment? UNDP and the UN system defines Sexual Harassment as any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favour, verbal or physical conduct or gesture of a sexual nature, or any other behaviour of a sexual nature that causes offence or humiliation.
The Faces of Resilience (Part 2): The Green Generation
In Part 1 of this series, we explored how Namangan’s local leaders established a funded, 18-point Action Plan on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation. This local blueprint was developed under the regional initiative, "Enhancing Urban Resilience to Disaster Risk and Climate Change in Central Asia," which is funded by the Government of Japan and implemented by UNDP. While this plan outlines ambitious goals, policy only comes alive when people embrace it in their own neighborhoods.
Resilience starts at home: How Central Asian cities are preparing for disaster risk
Since then, our teams have been on the ground in Almaty, Osh, Dushanbe, Ashgabat and Namangan identifying gaps in city-level earthquake management. As initial pilots, earthquake alert systems will be installed in select number of schools, showcasing best practices in earthquake preparedness and risk reduction to be replicated countrywide. This is one example of how better preparedness at the city level can translate into greater safety where people spend their everyday lives.
UNDP Associate Administrator Haoliang Xu to Visit Armenia for COP17 Leaders’ Summit
13 October 2026 - Mr. Haoliang Xu, the United Nations (UN) Under-Secretary-General, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Associate Administrator, will visit Armenia from 14 to 17 October 2026 to participate in the Leaders’ Summit of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17), hosted by Armenia.
UNDP launches global investment and jobs initiatives to boost growth in developing countries
BANGKOK –The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today launched two global initiatives to help developing economies attract investment, strengthen business environment and create more and better jobs.
To reduce humanitarian need, start with where and how homes are built
At construction sites, safety moves from policy to practice. Building codes establish enforceable rules governing what can be approved and built. Technical standards guide on how safety can be achieved, translating knowledge into specifications for construction.
GEF Small Grants Programme Opens Call for Community-Led Conservation Projects in the Northern Cape
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP), implemented in South Africa by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has opened a call for project proposals under Phase 2 of the Indigenous Peoples and Community Conserved Areas and Territories Global Support Initiative (ICCA-GSI).
Global multidimensional poverty rises for first time since 2010
NEW YORK CITY– The number of people living in multidimensional poverty has risen for the first time since the index was launched in 2010, reaching 1.2 billion, according to the 2026 update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford. That is 51.5 million more than in the previous update.
Urban October: Istanbul
Its architecture is almost deliberately undistinguished. There is little attempt to filter people through taste or lifestyle. You enter, see what has been cooked, choose, sit, eat. The important thing is not the design of the room but the low threshold for entering it. This becomes even more interesting in Istanbul’s municipal restaurants. I remain fascinated by the absence of the architecture of charity. These are not spaces visibly designated for “the poor.” Students come. Pensioners come.
Strengthening South-South and Triangular Cooperation for People and Planet, Volume II
There is an outsized opportunity to inspire, scale up, and accelerate new South-South and triangular cooperation initiatives for a sustainable and resilient future. In this second volume of new case studies and solutions, UNDP Nature Hub presents inspiring and pragmatic applications of South-South and triangular cooperation approaches.
Resilient homes begin with secure tenure
What does investing in a safer home mean when your right to remain on the land beneath it is uncertain? Investing in a home means committing resources today in the expectation of greater security over many years. An uncertain lease, an unresolved claim to land or the possibility of eviction can undermine that expectation. Even where a household can afford some improvements, uncertainty may shape how much it invests and which improvements it makes.
Highest borrowing costs in decades push developing countries to brink of liquidity crisis, warns UN Development Programme
NEW YORK CITY – Higher energy prices, an unprecedented El Niño, and higher borrowing costs could leave millions more in poverty as developing countries struggle to sustain support for households, warned the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in a report published today.
UNDP and NCEDI Foundation officially opened a new Multifunctional Family-Friendly Space
The National Center for Education Development and Innovation (NCEDI) Foundation officially opened its new Multifunctional Family-Friendly Space, marking an important step towards creating more inclusive, supportive and gender-responsive workplaces in Armenia. The initiative is implemented under the UNDP project “Platform #5: Accelerating Economic Opportunities for Women in Armenia”, with financial support from International Partnerships Austria, in partnership with NCEDI.
Armenia’s Ministry of High-Tech Industry and Artificial Intelligence and UNDP Armenia Deepen Cooperation: Memorandum of Understanding Signed
On October 9, the Ministry of High-Tech Industry and Artificial Intelligence of the Republic of Armenia and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in areas of mutual interest. The memorandum was signed by Davit Tadevosyan, Minister of High-Tech Industry and Artificial Intelligence of the Republic of Armenia, and Natia Natsvlishvili, UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia.
UNDP opens new office in Madrid
Madrid, 9 October 2026 - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has officially established a new office in Madrid, reinforcing its longstanding partnership and collaboration with Spain, a leading supporter of international development and multilateral cooperation.
No Time to Recover: Compounding Crises, Depleted Fiscal Buffers, and What It Means for Developing Economies
Seven months into the Middle East crisis, developing countries face compounding pressures: renewed energy price surges following the July ceasefire breakdown, a potentially record El Niño, and global benchmark interest rates at multi-decade highs. Governments have cushioned energy price increases at substantial fiscal cost, with global explicit fossil fuel subsidies potentially exceeding $1 trillion this year. Yet containment is becoming unsustainable.
Ministry of Health and UNDP Host Seminar to Promote Telehealth Implementation in Lao PDR
Vientiane Capital, September 30, 2026 - The Ministry of Health and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) hosted a digital health seminar themed "Telehealth" to understand the overall landscape, learn from international experiences, and define future directions for Lao PDR. The event was co-chaired by Assoc. Prof.
Nepal’s flood recovery starts with helping people rebuild their lives
Much of this work will happen at the local level. Bina Khadka, a UN Volunteer working as a data management officer and early recovery focal point in Bidhur Municipality, sees the challenges every day. Many people continue to seek refuge in government supported holding centres, or other temporary arrangements. Some have lost their homes, land, businesses or family members. Many are still coming to terms with the shock of what happened.
Innovators wanted: UNDP launches USD 1 million global challenge for healthier ocean
Open to innovators worldwide, the 5th Call for Proposals seeks innovations on Marine Pollution and Plastics Reduction, Marine Ecosystem Restoration, and Sustainable Blue Economy that directly benefit Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam.
Two in three people in Myanmar are poor or one shock away from falling into poverty, new UNDP report finds
New York, 8 October 2026 – Years of conflict, economic disruption, displacement and repeated shocks are eroding the foundations that people across Myanmar rely on to survive, cope and recover, according to a new UNDP report released today. More than two in three people are now either living in multidimensional poverty or vulnerable to falling into it, leaving millions with little capacity to withstand further crises.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS For Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Conserved Areas and Territories - Global Support Initiative (ICCA - GSI) Phase 2
The Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP), implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), awards grants on a competitive basis to civil society organisations for environmental initiatives that also promote livelihood enhancement.
The future of equality
I'll admit something I don't usually say out loud in this line of work: there are moments when I no longer fully understand what is happening, and these moments are increasing. A few months ago, I read a proposal in more than one place about one vote per household, rather than one vote per person, floated as serious policy. It wasn't shouted, and it sounded almost "reasonable," which is exactly what makes it dangerous.
Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2029
This Gender Equality Strategy 2026–2029 is being launched at a time of profound global change. Democracies are under strain, inequalities are widening, and technological and economic transformations are reconfiguring societies faster than institutions can adapt. Across many countries, support for gender equality can no longer be taken for granted. This strategy responds to reflections around two key concerns.
Urban October: Bangkok
Urban October is a month-long campaign focused on sustainable urbanization and resilient cities. As our societies become increasingly urbanized, and the effects of climate change intensify, UNDP works around the world to make cities more livable for all their residents. Did you know that Bangkok holds the Guinness World Record for the longest place name in the world?
A very strong El Niño is building. Asia and the Pacific cannot afford to wait.
The climate crisis is already reshaping the risks that communities across Asia and the Pacific live with. Now another warning signal demands urgent attention. On 3 September 2026, the World Meteorological Organization confirmed that El Niño is firmly established and will intensify into a very strong event, raising the risks of floods, drought and extreme heat well into 2027.
Veterans: Heroes of the Past, Builders of the Future
Originally published in The New Voice of Ukraine. When Oleksandr returned from military service, he found the transition to civilian life difficult. Severely injured in combat, he struggled to find work that matched his physical needs. The sense of purpose he had found in serving his country seemed lost. Yet today, Oleksandr is a sought-after IT specialist. Through a reskilling programme supported by international partners, he gained new skills and secured a job that suited his new reality.
The human side of security: Protecting people in the world's toughest crises
In times of crisis, security forces are among the first responders. Police officers, military personnel or border guards are deployed to restore order, prevent violence and protect communities and the State. Their presence should inspire confidence, offering reassurance that uniformed professionals are working to safeguard lives and support recovery. Yet, experience across many contexts has shown that security responses can have the opposite effect when they are not grounded in human rights.
Better jobs start with more productive economies
Growth and development matter. But what matters even more is what growth delivers, specifically better jobs, rising incomes and more opportunities for people. As UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo put it in his Annual Session of the UNDP Executive Board 2026, “jobs are created by markets. Innovation comes from enterprise.
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