New York — The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) today launched a renewed action plan to strengthen collaboration in support of national efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The new plan builds on UNDP’s and IsDB’s commitment to cooperate in shared priority areas such as crisis response and recovery, poverty reduction, private sector development, capacity-building, and knowledge-sharing. 

“This joint plan of action between IsDB and UNDP will support achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the countries we serve around the globe and will identify new opportunities to work together,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. “I look forward to piloting new initiatives for greater impact, such as our new NGO empowerment programme, and to expanding our collaboration in countries in Africa.”

IsDB and UNDP earlier today announced a new NGO Empowerment for Poverty Reduction Programme, which aims to empower civil society organizations to improve the socio-economic well-being of hard-to-reach communities through refugee education, job creation, resilience-building, and community livelihoods development.

“Our new joint action plan reflects UNDP’s and IsDB’s commitment to cooperate for greater collective impact in our member countries. It is based on principles of co-development, co-financing, and mutual benefits, making full use of our complementary strengths and expanding the role of our institution as a bank of developers,” IsDB Group President Dr. Bandar M. H. Hajjar said.

The new action plan builds on results from the previous three-year action plan, which envisaged expanded cooperation and saw new project agreements signed in Africa and Asia. In Senegal, UNDP supported implementation of the Emergency Community Development Programme with the Government, IsDB, and other partners. IsDB and UNDP also worked together on strategy development—including IsDB’s first Innovation Strategy and Resilience Report.

The plan prioritizes collaboration on crisis response, resilience, and stabilization; cooperation in Africa; promotion of South-South cooperation; and expansion of the joint Global Islamic Finance and Impact Investing Platform. UNDP and IsDB will also work together to develop an online Islamic Finance Training platform.

IsDB has been a leading contributor to UNDP’s Program of Assistance to the Palestinian People (PAPP), with almost US$150 million since 2010. In 2018 alone, IsDB donated US$24 million for projects under PAPP related to agriculture, electricity, and housing.