United Nations Development Group

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2025 UNDP South Africa aims to support a just transition to a low-carbon society and enhance resilience of vulnerable communities to climate change impacts by this target year.
February 2025 WFP received directives from the U.S. to halt operations on numerous U.S.-funded grants, despite an emergency waiver by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The suspension affects food aid projects in Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Haiti, and Mali, impacting tens of millions of dollars in Food for Peace Title II program grants.
2024 Ville de Rabat from the Kingdom of Morocco received the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for its pioneering approach to integrated and sustainable urban development, specifically highlighting its 'Rabat a Sustainable and Inclusive City' vision.
2024 Alcaldía de Santiago de Cali from Colombia was awarded the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for addressing urban and housing challenges through transforming public spaces, legalizing informal settlements, and promoting sustainable development.
2024 David Satterthwaite from the United Kingdom was awarded the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for revolutionizing urban development by advocating for improved housing and living conditions for marginalized urban residents.
2024 Allen Kong from Australia was honored with the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for his pioneering work in socially and environmentally sustainable architecture, providing mentorship and leadership in inclusive design through global programmes and indigenous advocacy.
2024 Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh from Malaysia received the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for its efforts to transition from a resource-intensive economy to a regenerative model focused on health, waste management, and ecotourism, while aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals.
2024 WFP was assessed by Publish What You Fund and received an overall score of 84.5 in the Aid Transparency Index, which is categorized as a 'very good' score.
October 2024 Thomas Fletcher becomes the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator of OCHA.
June 2024 WFP and FAO released the Hunger Hotspots outlook, highlighting acute food insecurity in 18 hotspots, with Haiti, Mali, Palestine, South Sudan, and Sudan classified as most concerning.
May 2024 The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage held its first board meeting in Abu Dhabi, discussing critical issues like fund access, financial instruments, and establishing the fund as a World Bank-hosted financial intermediary fund.
2023 The United States announced its intention to rejoin UNESCO and pledged to pay all past-due payments.
2023 UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award presented to five winners: Fundación Pro Empleo Productivo A.C. from Mexico for developing job creation training programmes, Dubai Municipality from UAE for establishing a waste recycling programme, FICA from Brazil for fighting housing speculation, Assembleia de Moradores from Portugal for creating city-wide development solutions, and EcoVironment from Sierra Leone for addressing plastic pollution.
2023 Ajay Banga was appointed as the new World Bank president, supported by US President Joe Biden partly due to his stance on climate action, succeeding David Malpass who had faced criticism for challenging climate science.
2023 Ajay Banga became the new president, known for supporting climate action and succeeding David Malpass.
2023 WFP received USD 8.3 billion in funding, marking likely the first funding decrease since 2010, creating a 64% funding gap.
2023 WFP supported over 152 million people across more than 120 countries and territories, demonstrating its extensive global humanitarian reach.
2023 Ajay Banga became the new president, known for supporting climate action and succeeding David Malpass.
October 2023 UN Women faced significant criticism for its delayed and perceived inadequate response to gender-based war crimes following the Hamas attack on Israel, waiting seven weeks before issuing a statement of condemnation of sexual violence.
September 2023 Revelations emerged that the World Bank had provided approximately $3.7 billion in trade finance to fossil fuel projects in 2022, contradicting its green pledges.
August 9 2023 The World Bank suspended new loans to Uganda in response to the country's anti-homosexuality law, joining the United States in imposing sanctions against Uganda.
June 2 2023 Ajay Banga began his term as World Bank president, becoming the first Indian American to lead the bank.
May 2023 Uganda enacted an anti-homosexuality act that was later deemed to contradict the World Bank's core human rights values.
April 2023 Jorge Moreira da Silva appointed as executive director of UNOPS for an initial two-year term.
April 2023 Cindy McCain officially begins her role as executive director, succeeding David Beasley.
March 2023 Cindy McCain is appointed as the executive director, with WFP having over 22,300 staff at the time of her appointment.
2022 Programa Parceria from Recife, Brazil, awarded for efforts in reducing disaster risks, enhancing resilience, and improving infrastructure in favelas.
2022 URBAN Intergroup of the European Parliament honored for enabling legislation, policies, and finance for sustainable urban development.
2022 Ms. Dipti Mahapatro from Bhubaneswar, India, recognized for leadership in transforming a mass rapid transit system to make it inclusive and accessible.
2022 UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award presented to The 15'min City global initiative for offering a compelling model of sustainable urban development.
2022 Mr. Stanley Anigbogu from Nigeria awarded for pioneering simple technology to recycle waste and create energy for marginalized communities.
2022 A study by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative confirmed that the Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) cash programme significantly reduced multidimensional poverty for aid recipients.
2022 World Food Programme delivered US$1.6 billion in cash assistance to 37 million people across 70 countries, helping to alleviate hunger through cash transfers including physical banknotes, debit cards, and vouchers.
2022 WFP reached a record funding of USD 14.1 billion, representing an almost 50 percent increase from 2021, against an operational funding need of USD 21.4 billion. The United States was the largest donor.
September 2022 Established the global Pandemic Fund, a collaborative initiative aimed at funding pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response for low- and middle-income countries.
September 8 2022 Volker Türk from Austria is appointed by Secretary-General António Guterres as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, with approval from the UN General Assembly, serving from September 8, 2022 to August 31, 2026.
June 2022 World Bank reported $10.1 billion allocated to supply vaccines to 78 countries.
May 2022 Grete Faremo resigned from her position following investigations and media scrutiny about problems during her tenure, particularly concerning the S3i initiative.
May 9 2022 Jens Wandel appointed as acting executive director of UNOPS by the Secretary-General, tasked with correcting organizational failures and implementing reforms.
2021 UNICEF withdrew the 'Digital Age Assurance Tools and Children's Rights Online across the Globe' report after misleading headlines and claims about its content emerged, originating from a story by the Center for Family and Human Rights.
2021 Robin Geiss becomes the eighth and current Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research.
2021 The fifteenth session of UNCTAD was held in Bridgetown, becoming the first UNCTAD conference to be hosted in a Small Island Developing State (SIDS). The conference was originally scheduled for 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021 UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award presented to five recipients: New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) from Egypt for social housing projects, Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) from Kenya for community-led poverty eradication, Baoji City from China for innovative housing provision, Let's Do It! World (LDIW) from Estonia for organizing World Cleanup Days, and Ciudad Emergente (CEM) from Chile for piloting Shared Streets concept.
2021 The Centre for European Volunteering launched the EYVPlus10 campaign, reflecting on the achievements of the 2011 European Year of Volunteering and responding to the UN Global Technical Meeting's call to make volunteering a transformative force for the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals.
2021 An independent inquiry by WilmerHale found that World Bank leaders, including Kristalina Georgieva and Jim Yong Kim, pressured staff to alter data to inflate rankings for China, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, and the UAE.
2021 The World Bank offered support to Kazakhstan in its mission for decarbonization and achieving carbon neutrality.
2021 International Year of Fruits and Vegetables.
December 2021 Gerd Müller was appointed as the Director-General of UNIDO, taking leadership of the organization.
2020 UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award recognized five winners: Upcycle Africa from Uganda for transforming lives through affordable housing, waste education, and job opportunities; Subang Jaya Municipal Council from Malaysia for holistic community empowerment; Community Impact Nepal from Kathmandu for eco-friendly construction; Colombia's Ministry of Housing and Cities for sustainable urban policy; and ECOCASA from Mexico for promoting energy-efficient housing standards and inclusive financial mechanisms.
2020 UNDP South Africa published the South Africa SDG Investor Map, providing strategic insights for investment in sustainable development goals.

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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, UNICEF, World Bank, International Year of Volunteers, UN Trade and Development, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award, UN Women, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Environment Programme, UNESCO, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, United Nations Office for Project Services, World Food Programme & UNDP South Africa, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.