United Nations Pacific Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2023-2027

The UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for the Pacific 2023-27 is the fourth multi-country compact between the UN and the governments of the 14 Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) reflecting the UN sub-regional architecture, the interaction with regional bodies and platforms, and Pacific Leaders’ commitment to work together towards sustainable development, as enshrined in the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.

This Framework (UNSDCF) represents the most important instrument for planning and implementation of the UN development activities in a country. It outlines the UN development system’s contributions to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in an integrated manner, with a commitment to Leave No One Behind (LNOB).

This Framework aspires to contribute to a Pacific region where “All people, leaving no place behind, are equal and free to exercise their fundamental rights, enjoying gender equality and peace, resilient to the existential threats and living in harmony with the blue continent.”

In the Pacific, the UN system, together with the 14 Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) this overarching Cooperation Framework in line with regional strategies, and in particular with the most recent 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.

This framework captures high-level results to which the UN will contribute in the period 2023-2027. Such results will be further contextualised at the country level through Country Implementation Plans (CIPs), which will define UN actions and deliverables on the ground in order to progress towards these outcomes.

The Pacific Cooperation Framework recognises the common challenges that the PICTs face as Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) captured in the SAMOA Pathway and further analysed in the recent work on the definition of a Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI), and the integrated regionalism approach needed to overcome them.

It takes into consideration that different change pathways might be required to address such challenges across the region, and to this extent, the UNSDCF outlines a broad Theory of Change for UN strategic support in the region.

The Theory of Change underpinning this Framework recognizes that PICTs’ progress towards the SDGs cannot happen unless global, regional and national efforts converge towards overcoming the impact of the pandemic, enhancing resilience to shocks and adapting to climate change for which restructuring of global debt, access to vaccination and adequate healthcare, halving emissions by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

To progress towards this vision, the UN will contribute to changes in the economies of the PICTs, access and quality of social services, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and governance systems and processes. The focus will be on building resilience to climate change (through economic

diversification and low-carbon solutions, resilient and shock-responsive social services and social protection measures, disaster-risk reduction strategies and infrastructures, and governance systems designed to promote and protect climate security); creating effective food system (through sustainable production, more efficient supply chains and market, as well as improved nutrition patterns); and sustain gender equality and human rights (through the promotion of gender parity in governance, action to end violence and discrimination against women and to promote equal civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights).

The key levers that the UN will activate as accelerators of change and means of implementation will be digital transformation (considered a fundamental element for the region towards inclusions, enhanced business ecosystems, and delivery of social services) and innovative financing, including based on the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) and promotion of blended finance.

Likewise, the framework acknowledges the fundamental role of the region’s biodiversity and natural resources to Pacific economies and cultures.

In line with our commitment to better respond to subregional priorities, the UN has expanded its presence on the ground, now operating out of Fiji, Samoa and the Federated States of Micronesia, with Multi-Country Offices (MCOs) established in all three locations and represented by three UN Resident Coordinators (one for each MCO).