Russia-UNDP Partnership

Since the closure of UNDP’s Country Office in the Russian Federation in 2010, UNDP and Russia have entered a new stage of partnership, focused on Russia’s growing role as a donor. 

The UNDP-Russia Partnership consists of more than 70 completed and ongoing projects in 38 countries. It exceeds US$150 million in total volume and by mid-2021 has reached over 6.5 million direct beneficiaries, supporting countries in keeping people out of poverty, providing sustainable livelihoods, access to employment, community infrastructure, climate-smart and disaster-proof solutions. Examples of Russia-funded activities are presented below.

Thematic priority areas include sustainable development, poverty reduction, rural development, sustainable management of water resources, climate change mitigation and adaptation, disaster risk reduction and early preparedness to emergencies, post-disaster response and early recovery, sustainable energy.

All project proposals stem from national demand and are part of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and the UNDP Country Programme in the respective country.

All projects are implemented by UNDP Country Offices fully in line with UNDP Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures, including for procurement, monitoring and evaluation.

The regional project “Knowledge Management and Capacity Development in Russia-UNDP Partnership”  provides support to programme countries since 2016 by promoting innovations in expertise and knowledge-sharing between Russia and other countries, including by facilitating the involvement of Russian experts in the implementation of development programmes around the world.

The KM project uses several mechanisms to achieve sustainable, scalable development impact in partner countries: 

1. Database of Russian experts containing 18 thematic areas linked to the SDGs with 300 expert profiles, and counting; 
2. Experts on Demand programme to meet requests of UNDP COs’ national partners with over 100 expert assignments completed; 
3. Russian Challenge Fund to bring innovative solutions by Russian institutions to partner countries;
4. Internship programme with 50 Master’s students who have completed or continued their assignments (including with Moscow State University for International Relations (MGIMO) parallel funding); 
5. Volunteering programme in cooperation with UNV (including Fully Funding (FF) programme for Russian nationals). 

In 2018, UNV and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation signed a Memorandum of Understanding and allocated $1 million to implement Russia-UNV FF Programme for Russian nationals. The Programme contributes to building the skills and professional capacities of talented Russians who are deployed to support the work of the UN system. In 2019, the Government of the Russian Federation issued a resolution for the implementation of the UNV FF Programme for 2019-2021 and allocated $3 million ($1 million annually). For the past years 39 Russian citizens have participated in the Programme as UN Volunteers in 10 different UN entities and located in 30 countries in Africa, Asia, CIS, Europe, Middle East, Latin America, and the Pacific regions.