United Nations Development Program (UNDP) by : Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

United Nations Development Program (UNDP), organization established by the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) in 1965 to foster “sustainable human development” in impoverished nations. As many colonial nations gained their independence in the early 1960s, the UN recognized a need for opportunity by the emerging governments and their people. In its development efforts, the UNDP strives to reduce poverty; increase literacy; create jobs; enhance technical cooperation between industrialized and nonindustrialized nations; preserve and protect the environment; and ensure that women receive recognition, encouragement, and training. The organization has its headquarters in New York City.

The UNDP has taken a lead role in helping countries create national development plans that integrate management, protection, and regeneration of the environment. At the same time, it has helped these countries create local action plans to combat water pollution, biodiversity loss, and depletion of the ozone layer. In addition to its fieldwork in emerging nations, the UNDP coordinates all operational development activities of the UN. It also helps to organize international responses to natural and human-caused disasters around the world.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.