The UN Development Program is not the sexiest international agency. But it is arguably the one single global entity that has done the most to advance the cause of sustainable development over the past several decades. And this year, it celebrates its golden anniversary. 

Back in 1966, the UN created the UN Development Program (UNDP) out of the merger of two smaller UN entities. The Secretary General at the time, U Thant of Burma, said the new agency would be the UN’s “frontline of the global war on want.” 

One of its first, and biggest, early accomplishments was a successful campaign against desert locusts. These are perennial vermin that destroy crops, and with them livelihoods of small farmers around the world. By 1970, a UNDP partnership had eradicated desert locusts from 42 countries.  

Locusts, everywhere! Credit: UNDP

Now, on its 50th anniversary, the UNDP is commemorating its past accomplishments while “looking to the future” and the 2030 sustainable development agenda.

This video, which features interviews of several former heads of UNDP, offers a pretty good overview of the history and future of the UNDP.   


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Editorial

Defeat Poverty

This global poverty fighter is turning 50

By Mark Leon Goldberg