The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a international organisation of the United Nations focused on cooperation and development. Its activities are organised around five areas: democratic governance, poverty reduction, crisis prevention and recovery, environment and energy, HIV/AIDS.
The UNDP was established in 1966, after the UN General Assembly resolution of 1965, and it is based on the merging of the United Nations Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance, created in 1949, and the United Nations Special Fund, established in 1958. The new Program is supposed to replace these two organisations by combining their purposes and methods; in addition, it is meant to facilitate the process of allocation of funds in developing countries. It operates under the control of the United Nations.
The UNDP’s headquarter is located in New York. The UNDP has liaison offices in Geneva, Brussels, Copenhagen, Tokyo, and Washington D.C. In most country offices, the UNDP representative serves as the coordinator of development activities for the United Nations system as a whole. Currently, the UNDP has about 7,000 staff members on the ground in 166 countries.
Editor: Valentina GENTILE
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