UNDP Somalia on Sunday (21 June 2026) launched its new Country Programme Document for 2026–2030, mapping out five years of cooperation with the Federal Government of Somalia, the Federal Member States, and international partners.

UNDP aims to mobilized and spend roughly $306.7 million through 2030 to implement the programme in the next five years.

The launch closes out a programme cycle that ran through a difficult stretch, which included climate shocks, including drought and flooding, political and security challenges, and the constitutional review process. Despite the challenges, the last Country Programme 2021–2025 delivered. By 2024, every Federal Member State had taken over paying its own police officers’ salaries, support that UNDP and partners had covered for years. Somalia produced a Human Development Index and a Multidimensional Poverty Index for the first time in more than three decades. A new national early warning system began reaching over 525,000 herders and farmers with climate alerts ahead of disasters rather than after them. Close to 20,000 people also benefited from UNDP-backed jobs and livelihoods programmes implemented in crisis settings over the same period.

An independent evaluation of that programme credited UNDP with staying engaged on politically sensitive issues, including constitutional reform, community policing, local governance. The evaluation also called for sharper strategic focus heading into the next cycle.

The new Country Programme responds to the independent evaluation. It is built around two pathways: strengthening governance and the social contract between citizens and the state, and tackling economic fragility and climate vulnerability together. Rather than a wide portfolio of separate projects, it targets a narrower set of outcomes, chosen for where UNDP’s support is likely to have the most leverage. By 2030, the programme aims to directly benefit over 50,000 people with jobs and livelihood support, more than double the reach of the previous cycle.

The programme was shaped through consultations with government institutions, civil society, and women’s and youth organizations across Somalia, and is aligned with the country’s own National Transformation Plan 2025–2029 and its longer-term Centennial Vision 2060.

“Today marks the beginning of a new chapter in the partnership that exists between the Government of Somalia and UNDP under this new program document,” said MoPIED Director General Mr. Abdifatah Abdulkadir Farah as he joined UNDP in co-launching the Country Programme. “The Government will continue to provide leadership in coordinating implementation and ensuring that development efforts remain aligned with national priorities. In this regard, we highly value UNDP’s continued support to national planning processes and institutional development.”

Mr. Lionel Laurens, UNDP’s Resident Representative in Somalia said, “The CPD marks a clear shift towards a portfolio approach — moving from isolated interventions to connected solutions that address root causes. This positions UNDP to address complex development challenges more effectively, deliver results at scale rather than in silos, and support long-term systems transformation”.

The new programme also commits to earmarking at least 15 per cent of project budgets for gender-focused work, beyond standard gender mainstreaming. It arrives as the UN Transition Mission in Somalia prepares for its own drawdown, a shift UNDP is positioning to help manage by taking on a larger role in strengthening national institutions.

The event drew broad participation from across Somalia’s development community, with representatives from the private sector, academia, civil society, and the media in attendance. Participants engaged directly with UNDP on the CPD’s strategic priorities, reflecting the wide ownership that underpins the new programme.