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14 March 2013, “Rise of South” transforming global power balance, says 2013 Human Development Report

14 March 2013, Massive poverty reduction, middle-class expansion from major development gains in Africa, Asia, Latin America Mexico City, 14 March 2013—The rise of the South is radically reshaping the world of the 21st century, with developing nations driving economic growth, lifting hundreds of millions of people from poverty, and propelling billions more into a new global middle class, says the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) 2013 Human Development Report. “The rise of the South is unprecedented in its speed and scale,” the 2013 Report says. “Never in history have the living conditions and prospects of so many people changed so dramatically...

21 January 2013 -The Third Arab Economic And Social Development Summit

21 January 2013 - UNDP Regional Director: Arab people look up to their leaders for actions to maximize political & economic inclusion. Dr. Sima Bahous Riyadh, 21 January 2013 - UN Assistant Secretary General and Regional Director of UNDPs Bureau for Arab States, Dr. Sima Bahous, said in Riyadh today that the Third Arab Economic and Social Development Summit is an opportune time for the Arab Leaders to address the legitimate demands and aspirations of the Arab populations for equitable development, dignity and freedom.“This is the first time that the Economic and Social Development Summit convenes after the Region has witnessed major transformations,” said...

17 October 2012 - The UNDP Administrator Message on International Day For Eradication Of Poverty

17 October 2012 - International Day for the Eradication of Poverty offers an opportunity for reflection on progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The most recent MDG progress report indicates that the global target of cutting in half the proportion of people living on under $1.25 per day was met in 2010. Since 1990, hundreds of millions of people are no longer living in extreme poverty and have the opportunity to live better lives. The targets of expanding access to improved sources of water and significantly improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers have also been met. Additionally,...

16 July 2012, Rio+20 Sustainable Development Summit

16 July 2012, In June 2012, the UN convened the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) (Rio+20) marking twenty years since the landmark Rio Earth Summit in 1992 at which major global frameworks were launched including Agenda 21, the UN Convention on Climate Change and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Sustainable development is about people. It is about creating jobs and improving lives while respecting the environment. Eradicating poverty, preventing conflicts, empowering women and girls, and building responsible governing institutions are critical components. For a video statement by the UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, please go to this link.

Since its foundation in Riyadh in 1965, UNDP has acted as a development partner to the Saudi government, in strong partnership with civil society and in response to the nation's development needs. The areas addressed are tailored to meet the Kingdom’s evolving development priorities, in particular as they are represented in the Eight National Development Plan (2005-2009) and in the Ninth National Development Plan (2010 – 2015), which focus on reducing poverty, enhancing the management of environment and energy, raising standards of living, improving the quality of life for all, augmenting the role of women and youth in national development, optimizing globalization benefits by improving the productivity of the economy, strengthening the science and technology base and a solid research & development capacity, and enhancing the performance of the public sector as well as partnerships for development.

UNDP

UNDP is the UN's global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners.

World leaders have pledged to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including the overarching goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015. UNDP's network links and coordinates global and national efforts to reach these Goals. Our focus is helping countries build and share solutions to the challenges of:

UNDP helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively. In all our activities, we encourage the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women.

UNDP Saudi Arabia is a professional development partner enjoying strong partnerships with and respect of both government & civil society as a knowledge based organization capable of tapping into UNDP’s Global Development Network in support of Human Development & MDGs in Saudi Arabia.

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UNDP Success Stories

United Nations Development Programme in Saudi Arabia has many contributions towards the development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. UNDP’s projects manifest these contributions in various practice areas, such as, the Energy and Environment and Governances practice areas.

- Enabling Activities for the Preparation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Second National Communication to the UNFCCC
- Support for Policy Analysis and Strategic Planning in Saudi Arabia
- Al-Madinah Urban Observatory Network (MOUN)
- National Energy Efficiency Programme (NEEP)

MDGs in Saudi Arabia

Goal 1
Goal 2
Goal 3
Goal 4
Goal 5
Goal 6
Goal 7
Goal 8

In Saudi Arabia, the percentage of families living under extreme poverty was 1.63% in 2004 to 0.8 in 2008, Prevalence of underweight children under five 5 years of age decreased from *6.4% in 2006 to 5.3% in 2010.

With regards to the second goal, the Gross enrolment ratio in primary education is 82% in 1990 to 106.0% in 2010. The Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach grade 5 increased from 74.5% in 1990 to 98.30% in 2010, and the literacy rate of 15-24 year olds has gone up remarkably from 85.9% in 1990 to 98% in 2010.

As for promoting gender quality and empowering women in Saudi Arabia where girls' education only started in the 60s, the 2007 report indicates ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and higher education rose from 85.1 in 1990 to 99.1 in 2010. Ratio of literate women to men, 15–24 year olds was 73.7 in 1990 and became 98.6 in 2010. Share of women in wage employment in the nonagricultural sector 17.9 in 1990 and became14.2 in 2009.

With respect to the fourth goal on reducing child mortality rate, Saudi Arabia has witnessed great drops whereby its under-five mortality rate went from 44 per 1000 in 1990 to 19.5 per 1000 in 2010; infant mortality rate declined from 34 per thousand live births in 1990 to 16.9 per thousand live births in 2010; and the proportion of 1year-old children immunized against measles grew from 88.2% in 1990 to 98.2 in 2010.

Reducing maternal mortality rate is another goal that is close to being achieved by Saudi Arabia. The MDGs report of 2009 shows that maternal mortality rate used to be 48 per 100,000 live births in 1990 and has dropped to 14 per 100,000 live births in 2010.Moreover, the proportion of births attended by skilled health professionals increased from 88% in 1990 to 97% in 2010.

Regarding HIV/AIDS and Malaria, Saudi Arabia is taking serious measures to halt and reverse their spread; however the report indicates that the cumulative number of HIV/AIDS reported cases was 16,334 cases in 2010. As for Malaria, its incidence has decreased substantially from 125 cases per 100,000 people in 1990 to 0.20 per 100,000 people in 2010. The Kingdom is expected to be free of Malaria in 2015. Similarly, it has achieved remarkable success with Tuberculosis incidence falling from 18.6 cases per 100,000 population in 1990 to 11.4 in 2010.

In line with the MDGs commitment, the 8th national development plan (2005-2009) emphasized protection of the environment from pollution and conservation and development of wildlife, as well as conservation of natural resources and rationalization of their utilization. The MDGs report shows that the areas protected to maintain biological diversity to surface areas in Saudi Arabia increased from 3.3% in 1990 to 4.26% in 2010. The proportion of urban and rural population with sustainable access to safe drinking water through water distribution system and water tanker services (%) increased from 75% in 1990 to 96% in 2010.

Total Aid Over 1975–2011: Saudi Arabia is one of the largest donors of development aid to developing countries in terms of ratio of aid to GDP. The number of soft loan agreements concluded by the Saudi Fund for Development in 1975 and up to the end of 2010 was 451 agreements for funding 451 development projects and development programs, with a value of SR 31 billion. 75 developing countries benefited from this aid.