The United Nations’ Strategic Plan for 2025: A Path Toward a Sustainable Future

The UN’s Strategic Plan for 2025: A Roadmap for Global Progress

The 2022–2025 Strategic Plan of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is an ambitious roadmap designed to address contemporary global challenges and accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This plan is structured around a framework called “3x6x3,” comprising three directions for change, six signature solutions, and three enablers, which serve as a guide for UNDP’s actions during this period.

Context and Rationale for the Plan

The formulation of the 2022–2025 Strategic Plan takes place in a global context characterized by multiple crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, rising inequalities, and prolonged conflicts. These challenges have exacerbated poverty and put the achievement of the 2030 Agenda at risk. According to the UNDP, in 2020, the number of people living in poverty increased for the first time since 1998, affecting between 119 and 124 million people. (strategicplan.undp.org)

In response to this reality, the UNDP recognizes the need to adopt integrated and transformative approaches to help countries and communities recover from current crises and build a more sustainable and equitable future.

The Plan’s Structure: The 3x6x3 Framework

The Strategic Plan is organized around the “3x6x3” framework, which consists of:

1. Three Directions for Change:
   • Structural Transformation: Driving green, inclusive, and digital transitions by working with countries to achieve systemic and structural changes that underpin sustainable development.
   • Leaving No One Behind: Adopting a human-rights-based approach focused on empowerment, inclusion, equity, and human development.
   • Building Resilience: Strengthening countries’ and institutions’ ability to prevent, mitigate, and respond to crises, conflicts, natural disasters, and socio-economic and environmental shocks.
2. Six Signature Solutions:
   • Poverty and Inequality: Addressing inequality of opportunities by investing in capacity building to help people overcome poverty and continue advancing.
   • Governance: Assisting countries in addressing emerging challenges with future-ready governance systems through anticipatory approaches and better risk management.
   • Resilience: Providing support to countries and communities to strengthen their resilience to crises, including conflicts, climate change, disasters, and epidemics.
   • Environment: Placing nature and the environment at the center of national plans and economies, helping governments protect, manage, and value their natural assets.
   • Energy: Expanding energy access for those furthest behind and accelerating the transition to renewable energy.
   • Gender Equality: Tackling structural barriers to gender equality and reinforcing women’s economic empowerment and leadership.
3. Three Enablers:
   • Digitalization: Supporting countries in building inclusive, ethical, and sustainable digital societies.
   • Strategic Innovation: Empowering governments and communities to enhance system-wide performance, ensuring adaptability and resilience.
   • Financing for Development: Partnering with governments and the private sector to align public and private capital flows with the SDGs and mobilize financing at scale.

Implementation and Partnerships

To execute this plan, the UNDP emphasizes the importance of strategic partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders, including:

• Member States: Collaborating closely with governments to align national priorities with the plan’s objectives.
• UN Agencies: Working together to deliver cohesive and integrated development solutions, maximizing collective results.
• International Financial Institutions: Mobilizing resources and expertise to finance sustainable development initiatives.
• Civil Society and NGOs: Engaging communities and grassroots organizations in project and program implementation.
• Private Sector: Encouraging responsible and sustainable investments that contribute to social and economic development.

The UNDP also highlights the need to strengthen its internal capacities to become a more agile, innovative, and results-oriented organization. This includes investing in staff development, modernizing systems and operational structures, and improving knowledge management and communication.

Challenges and Prospects

The implementation of the 2022–2025 Strategic Plan faces several challenges, including:

• Simultaneous Global Crises: The COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and regional conflicts demand integrated and coordinated responses.
• Growing Inequalities: The widening gap between the rich and the poor requires targeted interventions to reduce poverty and promote inclusion.
• Insufficient Financing: Mobilizing resources for sustainable development remains a challenge, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Despite these challenges, the UNDP remains optimistic, confident that through collaboration and commitment from all involved stakeholders, it is possible to advance toward a more just, equitable, and sustainable world.