Roundup: UN agency marks 50th anniversary in efforts to help 170 countries

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), one of the world's biggest anti-poverty body with programs in more than 170 countries, on Wednesday convened a high-level meeting to celebrate its 50th anniversary at the UN Headquarters in New York.

Known throughout the world for its partnerships with governments to tackle poverty and inequality, the UNDP works with some of the world's poorest people to improve gender equality, tackle climate change, make farming and fishing more sustainable, and improve health and education.

UNDP, the UN's global development network, was set up in 1966, when one in every three people around the world was living in poverty. Ever since, the UN agency has been a leader in working for a more fair and prosperous world for all. As it begins its second half century, the numbers of people in poverty have decreased to around one in eight.

More than 80 government ministers came to New York to join the UN agency in the 50th anniversary celebrations. Their day-long discussions only briefly lingered on celebrating the achievements over the past half a century before turning to the practical matters at hand, how to do even more in the next 50 years, beginning with working towards achieving the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals by the year 2030.

"Today's meeting (is) an opportunity to help shape the future of UNDP around the world," said UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, calling for governments to tell UNDP where it could be most helpful in supporting national development efforts.

The approach of ensuring outside development assistance is tailored to the needs and requests of developing countries, rather than imposed from outside, is just one of the ways that development has evolved in recent decades.

"The world has changed immeasurably in (the past 50 years), and UNDP has changed with it," said Clark.

The UNDP, which has been active in China for over the past three decades, said that China's development and global engagement in that time has been impressive.

The Chinese permanent representative to the UN, Liu Jieyi, said that China still aims to lift even more Chinese people out of poverty in coming years.

"In the next five years, we will lift 70 million poor people, as defined under our current criteria, out of poverty," said Liu. "This means that each month we will have one million people lifted out of poverty."

As China's economy has grown, it has also become more active in assisting other countries.

Liu emphasized that like UNDP, China's priority when working with other countries is to respond to development needs rather than define them.

"The projects with any country don't come from us they come from the recipient country," Liu said.

Meanwhile, ministers from both development recipient and development donor countries spoke during the day-long event. Also at the event, speakers from other countries shared their development challenges and approaches, showing a diverse range of national priorities.

Ethiopian Minister Minister of Finance and Economic Cooperation Abdulaziz Mohammed shared his countries' challenges of addressing poverty during the current historic drought exacerbated by El Nino and climate change.

Honduras' Vice-President Rossana Guevara spoke about the importance of empowering indigenous women.

The representative from Burkina Faso said that sustainable economic growth and job opportunities for young people are important to ensure that young people are not lured by terrorism.

For his part, the representative from Guinea took the opportunity to remind donor countries of the importance of meeting their commitments to support Ebola recovery efforts.

At the same time, Bhutan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Damcho Dorji shared his countries' experiences of measuring progress through happiness rather than income alone. "We are poor but we are happy, that's how I can sum it up," he said, noting that Bhutan has also reduced poverty levels in recent years.

UNDP advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources in a bid to help their people build a better life. The UN agency is working with more than 170 countries on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the expertise of UNDP and its wide range of partners. Endit