Governance systems across the globe are under increasing pressure in multiple ways, from a wide range of issues, including economic contractions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the structure of the global economy, a growing debt crisis, the climate emergency and nature stresses, the rapid pace of technological change, increasingly visible inequalities of all types, a fragmented, contested and less effective multilateralism, and people’s growing dissatisfaction with the status quo including the performance and outcomes of governance systems.

UNDP’s Global Programme, Governance for People and Planet (G4PP), aims to provide a comprehensive and coherent response to the challenges that beset governance systems today and into the future. UNDP’s work on governance is anchored in SDG 16 and the fundamental role that governance and the rule of law play in peaceful, just, and inclusive societies. The G4PP Programme is designed based on extensive mapping and consultation processes and takes forward the priorities of signature solution 2 - inclusive, accountable, effective governance – in UNDP’s  Strategic Plan (2022-2025). The G4PP aims to: 

• Strengthen synergies substantively and organizationally, facilitating more integrated delivery of policy and programmatic support; 
• Support the integration of governance across all UNDP signature solutions, based on governance principles, recognizing that it is the operation of governance systems (or ecosystems) which determine development outcomes. 
• Serve as an umbrella for existing global governance projects, aligning around common programming principles and a common results/accountability framework; 
• Provide a framework for systematic engagement with partners within and beyond the UN system.

The Programme provides a more people-centred, systems approach to UNDP’s governance assistance; it takes a multi-level (global, national, sub-national) and multi-dimensional perspective to governance; it emphasizes programs and initiatives that focus on transforming structures for gender equality and will work to achieve four outcomes:

• Outcome 1: Public goods and services, at all levels are delivered in an effective, transparent and responsive manner, including in volatile and uncertain circumstances;
• Outcome 2: People are empowered as positive agents of change in an inclusive public sphere;
• Outcome 3: Gender equality underpins all governance systems; and
• Outcome 4: UNDPs development results strengthened by the integration of governance.

The Global Programme is enhanced by UNDP’s Global Policy Centre for Governance, the Oslo Governance Centre, supporting UNDP’s governance delivery across key functional areas, including innovation, data, and knowledge.