United Nations Development Programme
Global development network of the United Nations
Follow United Nations Development Programme on Notably News to receive short updates to your email — rarely!
February 5 2024 | The Guardian Newspaper reported that UNDP had commissioned an internal management review of the Iraq corruption problems, with several donors requesting an independent review similar to the previous UNDP GEF Russia corruption scandal. |
January 22 2024 | The Guardian Newspaper reported a corruption scandal involving the US$1.88 billion UNDP Funding Facility for Stabilisation in Iraq, revealing 136 corruption allegation cases related to the reconstruction programme. |
June 2023 | Holiang Xu from China becomes the Associate Administrator of UNDP, replacing Usha Rao-Monari from India. |
2022 | UNDP annual budget reached US$6,737.92 million, highlighting the organization's significant financial resources for global development initiatives. |
June 2022 | BBC Two broadcasts a 90-minute documentary 'The Whistleblowers: Inside the UN', exposing a toxic culture within the UN system, focusing on whistleblower cases including John O'Brien's. |
March 2022 | John O'Brien is fired from UNDP several days after his BBC interview. |
February 2022 | Leaders of Transparency International, Whistleblower International Network, and Government Accountability Project write a public letter to UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner expressing concerns about whistleblower protection. |
2021 | The Netherlands government withholds 10 million euros in UNDP funding due to unsatisfactory handling of the Russia controversy. |
January 2021 | Independent report 'Systems and Silos' is published, finding 'irregularities' in the project management and suggesting UNDP return its entire management fee to the Global Environment Facility. |
March 2020 | 12 donor governments write a letter to UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner demanding an independent review of the UNDP's handling of the energy efficiency project in Russia. |
August 2019 | Foreign Policy magazine publishes an article 'Greed and Graft at U.N. Climate Program', exposing the corruption allegations in the UNDP Russia project. |
2017 | Achim Steiner becomes UNDP Administrator, representing Brazil, succeeding Helen Clark. |
2017 | Final evaluation completed, revealing the UNDP GEF Energy Efficiency Standards and Labels project did not meet its goals and showed 'strong indicators of deliberate misappropriation' of funds. |
2016 | UNDP again topped the Aid Transparency Index published by Publish What You Fund, maintaining an excellent score of 93.3%. |
August 2016 | Israel's Shin Bet security agency arrested Wahid Abdallah al Bursh, a UNDP Palestinian engineer, accusing him of assisting Hamas by misusing UNDP resources and influencing reconstruction fund allocation in Gaza. |
2015 | The Innovation Facility invested in 62 initiatives across 45 countries to support achievement of 16 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and fostered innovation labs across all five global regions. |
2015 | UNDP topped the Aid Transparency Index published by Publish What You Fund, achieving an excellent score of 93.3%. |
2014 | Dmitry Ershov claims he was pushed out of his UN job after raising concerns about procurement irregularities and project conflicts of interest. |
2014 | Wahid Abdallah al Bursh was reportedly recruited by Hamas while working for UNDP, allegedly using organizational resources for the group's activities. |
2014 | UNDP established the Innovation Facility with support from the Government of Denmark, creating a dedicated funding mechanism to nurture promising development interventions across global development networks. |
2014 | UNDP launched its Strategic Plan for 2014-2017, which incorporated recommendations from the 2013 poverty reduction evaluation, aiming to enhance its approach to supporting developing countries in poverty reduction efforts. |
2013 | An independent evaluation of UNDP's poverty reduction efforts was conducted, assessing the organization's effectiveness in supporting national poverty reduction strategies and recommending improvements in impact measurement and monitoring. |
December 2013 | Edward Snowden's leaked documents revealed that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was among the organizations targeted by British and American intelligence agencies, specifically the United States National Security Agency (NSA), for surveillance. |
2012 | UNDP convened The Global Commission on HIV and the Law, reporting on strategies to address HIV/AIDS and legal challenges related to the pandemic. |
2012 | UNDP established the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN), bringing together 30 countries to develop evidence-based finance plans for safeguarding biodiversity and creating an innovative methodology for analyzing biodiversity finance needs. |
2011 | Internal reports of irregularities first raised about the UNDP Global Environment Facility greenhouse gas reduction project in Russia. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article United Nations Development Programme, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.