BEIJING, Jan. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) launched its Asia-Pacific Regional Report 'Achieving Development Results in Asia and the Pacific', highlighting a string of successful programmes implemented in 2013 and 2014.
"The report documents the achievements of UNDP's US$2 billion delivery in the region during the past two years, focusing on key priority areas: innovative solutions to persistent development challenges and scaling up those solutions for greater impact," said Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator.
The innovative solutions go hand in hand with efforts to strengthen local level partnerships. An example is UNDP's work with Baidu, China's largest internet service provider, to develop a mobile application to encourage responsible recycling of electronic waste.
"UNDP will strengthen partnerships and ensure that we are fit for purpose to continue achieving high quality results in the region," said Haoliang Xu, UN Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific.
The report covers results achieved in 36 countries and territories in the Asia and Pacific region. It illustrates UNDP's support to poverty reduction and conservation of natural resources, strengthening democratic governance, building resilience and responding to crisis.
UNDP assisted people in strengthening livelihoods and empowering themselves. In cooperation with governments and development partners, this has led to more than five million people having access to social protection in the region, half of them women. UNDP supported three million urban poor women and men in Bangladesh to gain financial security through savings and loan schemes. This economic empowerment is closely linked to the creation of community housing development funds and the various models of land tenure security, ensuring people are secure and can invest in their homes.
Typhoon Haiyan was the biggest natural disaster to hit the region during 2013-14. In response, UNDP supported debris removal efforts by providing cash for workers and helped to restore social service centres and rebuild infrastructure. Since then, UNDP has worked with local and national authorities to improve early warning systems. The government's impressive preparatory action meant that the death toll from Typhoon Hagupit was just 18 as opposed to the 6,000 casualties after Haiyan.
UNDP provided electoral assistance that led to 16.7 million new registered voters across the region. In Bhutan, where it can take up to a week for parliamentarians to visit voters in remote areas, constituents can now interact with their parliamentarians virtually, while in the Maldives, selected community members are testing a new scheme to use either their mobile phones or log on to a website to report problems with public service delivery.
"It's a new way for citizens to communicate with policy makers. According to a global survey, responsive government is a key priority for more than three million people in the region as the post-2015 development agenda is being formulated," said Nicholas Rosellini, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, and Director of the Bangkok Regional Hub.
For more information on the report, please visit: http://www.asia-pacific.undp.org
Contacts:
Bangkok: Cedric Monteiro: cedric.monteiro@undp.org
New York: Stanislav Saling: Stanislav.saling@undp.org
UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in 177 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations. Follow us on http://www.facebook.com/undp, http://www.undp.org/flickr, http://www.twitter.com/undp and http://www.youtube.com/undp.
