As prepared for delivery.

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues,

It is a pleasure to join this important discussion on rethinking social development - an agenda that stands at the center of the Doha Political Declaration and of UNDP’s mission to help countries move from poverty to prosperity.

Three decades after Copenhagen, the challenge before us is not just to lift people above a poverty line — but to strengthen systems that allow them to stay above the line, to participate fully in and contribute to their economies and realise their potential, and to live with dignity.

In a world that is becoming more volatile and insecure, where climate, conflict, pandemic, and fiscal shocks can have a detrimental impact, we have witnessed that those on the borderline can experience repeated ups and downs.  It is not enough to make sure they are simply keeping their heads above the water - for the time being.  

The traditional boundaries between economic policy and social policy are fading. Social development cannot be achieved without productive, inclusive economies — and economies cannot be sustainable without strong, cohesive societies.

However, today, for every dollar spent on infrastructure, less than thirty cents is invested in people — a gap that threatens not only national development but also global stability.

Today, we must move beyond compensating for inequality — and instead move towards treating social protection not as a burden or charity - but investments in people, and ensuring economic systems are socially inclusive by design.  

UNDP’s latest Poverty-to-Prosperity Transitions analysis that was launched yesterday by our acting Administrator shows that policies combining productivity, inclusion and resilience can make this happen.

Our simulations demonstrate that modest, distribution-led growth — such as raising wage floors and improving labour’s share — could lift over 400 million people in developing countries above a prosperity floor: a level of income that provides not just survival, but stability and opportunity.

Poverty lines capture scarcity; prosperity floors capture capability. The distinction is critical: a household that has escaped $3-a-day poverty may still be one illness, one climate event, or one job loss away from falling back. The prosperity approach therefore measures not simply who is poor but who is insecure.

But sustaining prosperity requires more than income growth. It requires adaptive systems that can absorb these shocks.   Evidence shows that adaptive social protection can halve poverty volatility over a decade, preventing millions from falling back into deprivation when crises hit.

At the same time, community-based enterprises — the small producers, cooperatives, and social businesses that anchor local economies — are vital engines of this transition.
They turn inclusion into productivity: creating jobs where they are most needed, expanding care and green sectors, and building resilience from the ground up.

Across UNDP’s work in over 170 countries, we see that where community-based businesses thrive, social protection systems adapt, and finance is aligned with social goals, people’s agency expands — and prosperity becomes self-sustaining.

As we rethink social development, we must also rethink financing mechanisms — leveraging public–private partnerships, blended finance, and social innovation - to scale what works. UNDP’s experience in supporting impact investments, social entrepreneurship, and local SDG financing offers practical pathways for this transformation.  The integrated national financing frameworks and strategies can help identify and channel resources to SDG priorities.  

 For this transformation to go to scale, we need three shifts:

First, we must align macroeconomic policies and fiscal frameworks with social goals — ensuring that public investment, taxation, and trade policies all contribute to inclusive, people-centered outcomes.

 Second, we must expand access to non-financial and financial services and open up markets for community enterprises and social entrepreneurs — using instruments that reward social and environmental value creation as much as financial return.

 Third, we must strengthen local socio-economic ecosystems — connecting entrepreneurs, cooperatives, and social innovators with each other, to share their skills, technology, and networks that enable them to thrive together.

As we gather here in Doha, the message is clear: achieving social development in today’s world requires rethinking economic development. Together, let us build economies that serve societies — not the other way around.  The next generation of policies will need to link productivity, inclusion and resilience, to build the bridge from poverty reduction to lasting prosperity.  

Thank you