A look at the global landscape today sees development and security interests diverging exponentially. With deep fractures across both landscapes. And it need not be this way.  

When I briefed the Security Council last year, it was to present a possible meeting place where protecting national and global security interests coincide with those of human development progress. The need for shared reflection and actions to reconcile these seemingly contrasting goals is a must. 

But is it an ask that is out of reach at this time? 

Translating shared vision into dual-purpose action

For UNDP, pursuing such a duality as one pathway to both peace and progress for all is core DNA. So, we see it in-range and it frames our interventions.  

The very fundamentals of a human development approach speak to development gains that come with stable economic growth and opportunities for work, decent education, good healthcare, and trust in institutions that deliver quality services. 

Across Asia and the Pacific, across the world, we see what happens when these foundations that hold countries and societies together begin to fray. These things do not appear magically out of nowhere. It takes a concerted effort by leaders, by governing authorities and community organizations, by investors and businesses to see the end goal as people do – that a safer, more secure world also delivers a decent life for many more. 

Mutual trust, creating equal opportunity, ensuring rule of law, protecting the most vulnerable in our communities - these are not off-the-shelf products. It requires being present and embedded in local systems, cultures, listening, learning, and adapting to get to working solutions that help resolve local problems. This is our work, the work of development. 

Absorbing setbacks not as failure but renewed capacities 

Very little remains constant in these efforts, as there will be shocks and setbacks. These are not failures. It is a matter of using the moment to build stronger, using new skills, new tech and working better together to look ahead and prevent. Today, when UNDP works with communities and their institutions to build or build back, it invests more in those systems and capabilities for rapid regeneration and greater resilience to future crises. There is a capacity building opportunity each time. 

Where injustices and inequalities persist, instability returns – and the cycle repeats. Nearly 40 percent of conflicts relapse within a decade, largely where development deficits remain unresolved. This is what we should be escalating - investments in education and health, jobs and skills for young people, water, electricity and connectivity in steady supply, for a safer, more prosperous, peaceful world. 

Good ideas, skills and technologies backed by positive collaborations and development investments – this is what we need transcending borders, climbing mountains and crossing seas.  

That’s a win-win.