In 2025, UNDP Pakistan advanced its mission to deliver for people and planet in a context marked by renewed climate shocks, economic pressure, and rising expectations for public service delivery.

This issue examines how governance capacity, not policy ambition alone, will determine Pakistan’s ability to navigate economic volatility, climate pressures, digital transformation, and widening inequality. At a moment of overlapping national transitions, it argues that restoring trust in the state depends on stronger institutions, better coordination, and closing the gap between reform commitments and lived outcomes.

For six decades, UNDP has shaped the progress of human development, providing integrated support at scale to improve lives for millions of people worldwide.

UNDP will continue to support countries’ progress towards high human development, while protecting the planet. Four strategic objectives – prosperity for all, effective governance, crisis resilience and healthy planet – define its strategic direction, powered by three accelerators: digital and AI transformation; gender equality; and sustainable finance. All are underpinned by a commitment to human rights and to leaving no one behind.

The Strategic Plan sharpens the focus on what UNDP does best: supporting systemic change, through integrated development solutions driven by national priorities. 

As Pakistan’s digital landscape expands, so does the need to ensure that online spaces are safe, inclusive, and rights-based. In 2024, eight million new female users came online, marking important progress in digital inclusion. Yet in the same year, 135,000 cybercrime complaints were reported, while only 826 cases proceeded to prosecution — just 0.6 percent. This gap between access and protection highlights the scale of the challenge and the need for a stronger institutional response.