UN launches joint programme to help Ukraine finance work on Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations Development System in Ukraine has launched another flagship initiative to strengthen Ukraine’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) financing architecture at the national and regional levels.

The United Nations Joint Programme on SDG Financing in Ukraine will develop new public and private financing solutions, while ensuring the more efficient use of existing finances, in alignment with Ukrainian government priorities. The joint programme, which has almost US$1 million in financing and which will run until the end of July 2022, will work closely with the Prime Minister’s Office, the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers and line ministries to optimize resource allocation and identify new sources of financing.

UNDP Resident Representative in Ukraine Dafina Gercheva said UNDP would serve as the technical lead for the new initiative, working closely with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

“This new and exciting joint programme leverages the comparative advantages of an interagency approach under the overall leadership of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office,” Gercheva said.

“It emerged out of the UN Joint SDG Fund, an innovative instrument launched by the UN Secretary General this year to encourage transformative policy shifts accompanied by the strategic investments required to accelerate progress in attaining the SDGs.”

The joint programme has the expected overarching outcomes of improving Ukraine’s SDG planning and financing architecture at both the national and the decentralised, regional levels. The programme will focus on producing a Development Financing Assessment to help form SDG-oriented financing priorities at the national and region levels, improving strategic planning and budgeting for the health sector nationally and in the regions, and adopting and leveraging new SDG financing mechanisms.

Background

UNDP is the leading development agency operating in Ukraine, integrating the efforts of its sister UN agencies across a variety of projects and programmes, including the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme in Ukraine.  Through forging partnerships in Ukraine with national, regional, and local governments, civil society, and the private sector, UNDP strives to support the country in its efforts to eliminate poverty, develop people’s capacity, achieve equitable results, sustain the environment, and advance democratic governance.