Who we are

As the United Nations lead agency on international development, UNDP works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities, and to build resilience to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

UNDP in Moldova is guided by the Country Programme Document, and the UN-Moldova Development Assistance Framework, which are in line with the priorities of the Government. Our work is concentrated in three focus areas: effective governance, justice and human rights; inclusive growth; climate change, environment and energy.

Mission and vision

UNDP’s mandate is to end poverty, build democratic governance, rule of law, and inclusive institutions. We advocate for change, and connect countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.

The vision for the UNDP country programme is for Moldova to become a more cohesive, inclusive, just and resilient society, supported by a better quality of life for everyone.

Achieving a better quality of life for all people in Moldova, as envisioned in the Moldova 2030 Strategy, is only possible if the country’s prosperity is shared amongst all people, while the most vulnerable and marginalized are empowered to exercise their human rights and participate meaningfully in all fields of life. Enhanced inclusion and resilience, peace and security are important preconditions for empowering all people to contribute to the country’s social and economic transformation of the country and accelerate achievement of the SDGs.

The UN Charter

The Charter of the United Nations was signed in San Francisco on 26 June 1945, at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organization and came into force on 24 October 1945. Its purposes and principles are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations based on equal rights and self-determination, and to achieve international co-operation in solving economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian challenges without distinction for race, sex, language, or religion.

History

UNDP is based on the merging of the United Nations Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance, created in 1949, and the United Nations Special Fund, established in 1958. UNDP, as we know it now, was established in 1966 by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

UNDP is present in the Republic of Moldova since 1992, covering two-thirds of the communities, including Găgăuzia region and the left bank of Nistru river.

Our results

UNDP’s contributions to Moldova’s story have been deeply rooted in advancing its development priorities, emphasizing governance reforms, inclusiveness, and resilience – all key to advancing people’s wellbeing, leaving no-one behind.

UNDP is supporting the Government in the nationalization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and integrating the 2030 Agenda into the country’s national development framework. With UN support, the Government of Moldova assessed the progress on achieving the SDGs and presented its first Voluntary National Report at the High-Level Political Forum in July 2020, as well as progress updates at the SDG Summit in September 2023.

In this context, UNDP has supported Moldova in the development of a national Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for the Republic of Moldova, enhancing the country's capacity to monitor and address poverty comprehensively.

Transparency and inclusiveness of elections is a key area of assistance ranging from real-time disaggregated data of voter turnout and elections results to civic education and strengthening of electoral institutions and processes.

To enhance safe and efficient cross-border cooperation, increased trade volumes and improved control over illegal traffic of people and goods, the EU Integrated Border Management principles were successfully piloted in Moldova with EU-UNDP support. The first Moldova-Ukraine Jointly Operated Border Crossing Point in Palanca ensures optimal conditions for crossing the border, including for people with disabilities, asylum seekers, entrepreneurs, and cargo transport.

UNDP delivered on its commitment of ensuring the humanitarian-development-peace Nexus, by efficiently supporting local partners in navigating the economic, energy and humanitarian challenges and build crisis response capacities. Since the onset of the war in Ukraine and influx of refugees to Moldova, UNDP’s work generated improved livelihoods opportunities, enhanced access to better services and infrastructure for refugees and vulnerable men and women from host communities across the country, including on the left bank of Nistru. UNDP supported the connection of local public authorities to the national refugee assistance mechanisms and enhanced the response capacities of local communities hosting refugees. Moreover, together with national authorities – Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and State Chancellery, UNDP has led the coordination efforts of livelihoods and inclusion interventions under the Moldova Refugee Response Coordination Forum.

Despite all challenges, UNDP was helping local communities to maintain their commitment towards local development priorities. UNDP’s work was instrumental on steering the first two Focal Regions of Cahul and Ungheni on the path to becoming regional growth poles in the country, with solid services and infrastructure supporting a dynamic and inclusive socio- economic life.

Moreover, the private sector on both banks of Nistru river was activated as an important partner of local public authorities able to push green economic growth, being assisted to grow, access export opportunities, create jobs, including for refugees and engage in innovative partnerships, including in such formats as value-chain based clusters, initiated for the first time in Moldova.

UNDP continuously promotes inclusive growth, supporting a nationally owned process of making the most of migration, with focus on reinventing rural areas and creating local economic opportunities for communities. UNDP’s innovative experience of engaging migrants in the development of local communities across Moldova was scaled up at the national level through the Governmental Programme DAR 1+3. The established cross-river cooperation platforms between both banks of Nistru River generate joint innovative solutions for addressing protracted issues across the conflict divide. UNDP work focused on supporting human capital development by contributing to advancing the quality of education to better match labour market demand.

UNDP is providing policy support to the Government in a few critical areas, mainly around key emerging development challenges. UNDP is assisting Moldova in navigating a just energy transition through the continuous operationalization of the Energy Vulnerability Reduction Fund, a mechanism for targeted on-bill compensations for low-income households with national coverage. In collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, a dedicated intervention on the digital transformation of social protection, to increase its efficiency, outreach, and sustainability, has been initiated.

UNDP is also offering support to the Government in the implementation of the Digital Transformation Strategy (2023-2030) and related national programmes, with a particular emphasis on digital governance, data-driven policy development, and advancement of a digital society in Moldova.

UNDP is acting as a catalyst to accelerate climate action and promote the green development agenda aimed at reducing the country’s carbon footprint. UNDP supported the Government of Moldova in developing an enabling framework for the green transition and initiated actions to promote resource-efficient and circular economy, low-carbon transportation, and clean energy in line with the EU Accession requirements. The enhanced National Determined Contribution, adoption of the Low Emission Development Programme, Programme on Climate Adaptation, Law on Climate, Law on F-gases, etc., set the grounds and necessary pre-conditions for an improved environmental governance at the national level. 

The role of local communities in ensuring a green, just, and resilient transition was acknowledged by supporting various programmes on low carbon urban development across the country, as well as supporting local authorities in mainstreaming resilience and disaster risk management into local development strategies. UNDP further supported the implementation of adaptation and resilience-building initiatives, with strong gender-responsive anchoring. Strategic interventions such as the expansion of agro-, hydro-, and meteorological networks, expansion of electric vehicle charging stations, implementation of two National Programmes, namely, the Green Home and Replacement of old electric appliances Eco-Voucher Programme, have significantly contributed to the enhanced country’s low carbon and resilient development. Additionally, the development and endorsement of the climate budget tagging methodology enhanced transparency and accountability in public climate finance, with the view to design similar mechanisms for green financing.

On just energy transition, UNDP engaged with the residential and private sectors to enhance adoption of energy-efficient and renewable practices and technologies. In addition, UNDP facilitated the conceptualization of transformation of the national electricity grid to a smart one, through piloting smart metering technology, which is laying the foundation for improved evidence-based decision-making in the energy sector. Similarly, UNDP was committed to serving as a platform for fostering regulatory innovations for the energy sector in a sandbox environment, such as energy communities and differentiated tariffs on electricity for end users. UNDP provided technical assistance to finalize and operationalize the integrated National Energy and Climate Plan as an integrated 10-year plan that detailed steps to meet the energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other targets for 2030, in line with the EU Regulation on the governance of the energy union and EU’s clean energy package.