Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning

United Nations Development Program

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The United Nations Development Program works to eradicate poverty and protect the planet in some 170 countries and territories. UNDP helps countries develop strong policies, skills, partnerships and institutions to support their development. The UNDP was created on November 22, 1965 by combining the Expanded Technical Assistance Program (EPTA) and the Special Fund. [5] The rationale was “to avoid duplication of work”. The EPTA was established in 1949 to assist the economic and political aspects of the least developed countries, and a special fund was intended to expand the reach of United Nations technical assistance. The Special Fund grew out of the idea of ​​the United Nations Special Fund for Economic Development (SUNFED) (originally known as the United Nations Economic Development Fund (UNFED)). Countries like the Nordic countries were in favor of such a UN-controlled fund. However, the fund encountered opposition from developed countries, especially the United States, which distrusted the Third World, which dominated this financing, preferring it under the aegis of the World Bank. The idea of ​​SUNFED was abandoned to create a special fund. This particular mutual fund was an agreement within the meaning of SUNFED, it did not provide investment capital, but only helped to create the framework conditions for private investment. The United States proposed and established the International Development Association on the roof of the World Bank, with EPTA and the Special Fund doing the same. In 1962, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Economic and Social Council was asked to consider the pros and cons of merging United Nations technical assistance programs, and in 1966, EPTA and the Special Fund merged to form the United Nations Development Program. .