We are pleased to present this new publication providing information about some of the initiatives which UNDP supported in Turkey in 2017 and 2018. These initiatives were only possible thanks to close collaboration with our numerous partners and the generous contributions of our donors. Special recognition goes to the Government of Turkey for our fruitful partnership.

As the leading UN Agency in the field of development and largest development network, we are providing support to the Government of Turkey in its efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

We are always seeking to identify and implement innovative and practical ways of making people’s lives
better and protecting our planet for future generations. Through our website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube accounts, our monthly e-magazine New Horizons and other communications channels, we make a point of sharing stories of people whose lives have been changed for the better thanks to the activities of UNDP. We encourage you to discover these people’s stories and see the impact UNDP has had on their lives. We hope that their stories will give hope to others and inspire them both to empower themselves and lead better lives and to develop solutions to help others in need.

Empowering people and collaborating with solid institutions that can respond to their aspirations are always at the heart of UNDP activities, whether it is by contributing to the education of women engineers, creating employment opportunities, building resilience for Syrians living in Turkey and host communities, providing the less advantaged with access to more quality legal aid, shifting to efficient and renewable energy resources, combating invasive alien species around the Turkish coasts, supporting sustainable tourism, resource efficiency and the transformation of industry, clearing territories from land mines or protecting Turkey’s forests.

We believe that UNDP has been playing a sustained role in support of Turkey’s development agenda. Over the years, we have engaged with various government counterparts, key stakeholders, donors and partners across Turkey to share expertise, findings and recommendations. All activities have been carried out with the highest standards of transparency and accountability, with high quality and timely delivery.

Today, UNDP continues to foster practical solutions to Turkey’s development challenges in cooperation with

its various partners. We focus on supporting Turkey in three main areas: Inclusive and Sustainable Growth,

Inclusive and Democratic Governance, and Climate Change and the Environment. We place women’s empowerment at the centre of each initiative and work closely with the private sector for development.

In recent years we have also prioritized work to support Turkey’s exceptional efforts in meeting the challenges

created by the effects of the Syria crisis. As the largest refugee host country in the world, Turkey is hosting

around 3,6 million Syrians. UNDP is responsible for coordinating the resilience aspect of the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP). The key aspect of our resilience response strategy is to invest in existing national and local systems to ensure that they are able to serve both host and Syrian communities adequately, with a focus on three major areas: livelihoods, municipal service delivery and social cohesion.

Given the protracted nature of the crisis, a progressive shift from humanitarian to development assistance has been prioritized by the Government as well as the donor community. UNDP is advocating for international community to fulfil its obligation by providing additional funding to build resilience. Because of this shift, UNDP’s role has become increasingly more relevant and has resulted in an expansion of the Syria Crisis Response and Resilience Programme. With the growth of this Programme, we have also expanded our local presence in Turkey’s various provinces.

UNDP work is framed within the United Nations Development Cooperation Strategy with Turkey for 2016-2020, and our Country Programme Document, which was prepared with the Government of Turkey and other major counterparts. This document aims to address structural and intertwined challenges from a sustainable human development perspective, in line with the priorities of the 10th National Development Plan and the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2018, we collaborated with the Government in the preparation of the upcoming 11th National Development Plan for 2019-2023, guided by Sustainable Development Goals.

2019 is also the first year of UN Reform implementation. UNDP is called to provide an “integrator function” at the heart of a new generation of country teams, in support of countries in their efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda, where UNDP’s expertise is offered as a service to the wider development system, national and local partners. The SDGs are designed to be integrated. They are all linked to each other and are interdependent. The growing number of complex issues cannot be dealt with in isolation. Therefore, the way we work and the solutions we develop together must be integrated to achieve common goals.

In line with this, UNDP Strategic Plan 2018-2021 supports countries achieve sustainable development by eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, accelerating structural transformations for sustainable development and building resilience to crises and shocks. With this vision, we are bringing innovation at the heart of our work. As a step to adopting the platform way of working introduced in the new UNDP Strategic Plan, a platform-based governance model for the private sector was initiated in 2018. UNDP brought its integrator role on SDGs into practice through the establishment of Business for Goals (B4G) Platform and Connecting Business Initiative (CBI) in cooperation with leading private sector umbrella organisations. In 2019, both platforms will be fully operationalized. SDG Impact pilot initiative will also be realized under these platforms. UNDP is developing a new network of 60 SDG Country Accelerator Labs, one of which is being established in Turkey CO. The pilot SDG Accelerator Lab in Turkey will start developing innovative solutions to emerging development challenges in 2019.

We take this opportunity to acknowledge the continued support of both the Government of Turkey and our partners. Our responsiveness to national priorities and broad donor base are key strengths that allow us to serve Turkey’s development efforts better. The Government of Turkey, the European Union, the Global Environment Facility, the Governments of Japan, South Korea, Sweden, United States, Germany, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the World Bank and KfW are currently UNDP’s major partners and donors in Turkey. All our other valuable international and national partners are also acknowledged in this publication.

With all of them, we will continue to work for people to live better lives. In doing so, we will always focus on the least advantaged. Leaving no one behind is a UNDP priority on the road to achieving Agenda 2030 and we will redouble our efforts to support Turkey in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

As UNDP Turkey, we will continue to make every effort to find practical and innovative solutions to Turkey’s development challenges to change people’s lives. I hope that you will find this report interesting and let me take this opportunity to thank you once again for working with us.

Claudio Tomasi

Resident Representative, a.i

UNDP in Turkey