LocationsDuring the High-Level Week of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, UNDP LAC convened a reflection with partners and distinguished panelists on the conditions, challenges and opportunities for continuing to advance a regional agenda for resilient development.
UNDP LAC at UNGA 81
September 22, 2026
During the first event, EU-LAC Talk II: “Energy Transition and Competitiveness: Investing in Resilient Growth" organized in partnership with the Business Council of the Alliance for Ibero-America (CEAPI), leaders from the public and private sectors and multilateral organizations discussed how to turn the energy transition into a driver of competitiveness and development for Latin America and the Caribbean. Panelists agreed that the region has the natural resources, renewable energy capacity and human potential to lead this transformation. Doing so, however, requires consensus around a shared vision for development, stable and capable institutions, legal certainty, well-structured projects, and partnerships that can mobilize public and private capital at scale. Discussions also explored how the energy transition can foster territorial development and shared prosperity, highlighting the importance of legal and responsible mining, stronger infrastructure, modern interconnected electricity grids, expanded markets, and regional value chains rather than continued reliance on raw material exports.
Beyond the technical and financial dimensions, the discussion placed the energy transition within a broader agenda of stronger institutions, trust and social inclusion, emphasizing that energy is now synonymous with security, competitiveness and stability.
The European Union and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) presented concrete investment commitments, including green financing and critical infrastructure. Private-sector representatives stressed the need for regulatory predictability and a pipeline of scalable projects to attract long-term capital. The event concluded with a call to move from ambition to implementation by strengthening cross-regional partnerships that put people and communities at the center of a just and shared energy transition.
The second event, the Fourth CAF–UNDP Conference on Governance for Development, “Democratic Institutions for the Future: Governing Complexity and Renewing Trust,” brought together former presidents, ministers, academics and representatives of multilateral organizations, with the participation of Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz. The discussion focused on a central question: how can governments become more effective and respond more quickly to citizens’ demands without weakening democratic checks and balances, the rule of law and accountability? President Paz and former presidents Laura Chinchilla and Iván Duque warned of the risk that some governments may dismantle institutions in the name of delivering results more quickly. They underscored the fundamental role of democracy in development and the need for state policies that endure beyond political cycles.
In her remarks, Michelle Muschett, UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, emphasized that the future of democracy and development in the region depends on institutions’ ability to anticipate, learn and adapt to an increasingly complex context. She highlighted the importance of strengthening innovation, participation and collaboration so institutions can respond more nimbly and effectively—and, above all, translate institutional transformation into tangible improvements in people’s well-being and renewed public trust.
A second session, focused on institutional innovation to renew democratic trust, featured Brazilian Minister Esther Dweck on the digital transformation of the state; John Clifton of Gallup on how citizens’ emotions and perceptions, beyond economic figures, help explain political discontent; and Mariana Campos of the independent think tank México Evalúa on the role of think tanks in generating evidence to inform policymaking on issues such as informality and organized crime. In her closing remarks, CAF Vice President Alicia Montalvo emphasized that the future of democracy in the region depends on the institutional capacities built today.
“Democracy, Development and Shared Futures: Ibero-America on the Road to the Madrid Summit,” co-organized by the Government of Spain and UNDP, brought together foreign ministers and other senior officials from across Ibero-America at the Instituto Cervantes in New York. During the opening session, Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo highlighted the value of the Ibero-American space as a platform for dialogue, political coordination and collective action in addressing shared challenges amid global fragmentation. They also stressed the need to respond to growing public dissatisfaction with how democracy is working in Latin America and the Caribbean, the most democratic region in the developing world. This dissatisfaction does not necessarily reflect a rejection of democracy, but rather a legitimate demand for institutions that respond more effectively and deliver tangible results for citizens.
The findings of UNDP’s 2026 Regional Democracy and Development Report, Democracies Under Pressure: Reimagining the Future of Democracy and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, provided the framework for the discussion. The report examines the pressures facing democratic systems through the interdependent relationship between democracy, human development and the state. When these three dimensions reinforce one another, they expand people’s freedoms, opportunities and capacities to participate in decisions that affect their lives. When they become disconnected, public frustration and distrust in institutions grow.
Presenting the report, UNDP Regional Director Michelle Muschett also distinguished between problems of democracy and problems for democracy. The former directly affect democratic rules and institutions, including weak representation, unequal influence over public decision-making, the concentration of power and the erosion of checks and balances. The latter undermine democracy’s ability to function and include inequality, insecurity and organized crime, disinformation, human mobility and the climate crisis. She stressed that “the threat is not only that citizens may want less democracy. It is that too many people may stop expecting anything from it,” underscoring the need to renew institutions’ capacity to represent people, respond to their needs and deliver results.
The second part of the event brought together the foreign ministers of Mexico and Bolivia and the Ibero-American Secretary-General to discuss how their countries have sought to connect democratic development with tangible economic outcomes and social inclusion. Mexico’s foreign minister described how his government has sought to translate democracy into concrete benefits through minimum-wage increases, social programs and a focus on higher-value-added manufacturing, with the aim of reducing inequalities inherited from decades of trade liberalization. Bolivia’s foreign minister reaffirmed his government’s commitment to democratic dialogue and described its efforts to open up and decentralize the state after years in which the country’s natural resource wealth had failed to translate into economic development and opportunities across its territories.
The event closed with a call for Ibero-America to use the dialogue leading up to the Madrid Summit to turn the pressures facing democracies into an opportunity for renewal, strengthening the links between democracy, human development and public trust.
Finally, as part of preparations for the Global Forum on Maternal and Child Survival, to be held in Mexico City from 2 to 4 March 2027, UNDP hosted a breakfast meeting with representatives of the governments of Mexico and Spain, PAHO/WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, the Gates Foundation, the Carlos Slim Foundation, the World Bank’s Global Financing Facility (GFF), the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health, and Gavi. The meeting aimed to advance the formation of a coalition to drive a renewed movement for maternal and child survival. Progress in reducing maternal and child mortality has slowed over the past decade. In Latin America and the Caribbean alone, approximately 7,200 maternal deaths and 81,000 neonatal deaths occur each year, with 57% of neonatal deaths occurring in the first month of life.
Michelle Muschett, UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, emphasized that amid profound transformations that will reshape the development agenda in the coming years, emerging pressures must not push fundamental priorities off the agenda. She also highlighted the importance of Mexico’s leadership in advancing this effort.
From a development perspective, UNDP recognizes that maternal and child health is not only a health issue, but also a cornerstone of sustainable development, poverty reduction and gender equality. In recognition of its importance, UNDP is bringing its support, convening power and technical expertise to this cause to help restore maternal and child survival to the forefront of national, regional and global development agendas.
