UN Philippines Annual Results Report 2023

The United Nations Philippines annual report highlights key achievements of the United Nations, in cooperation with the Government of the Philippines and other partners in 2023.

On 24 October 2023, twenty-four United Nations entities signed the new generation 2024-2028 Cooperation Framework. The activities of the United Nations in the Philippines aligned with the country’s development priorities, human rights and gender equality commitments and with the 17 SDGs. 

Twenty-nine United Nations entities engage in operational and/or support activities for development in the Philippines, working together through the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) and under the leadership of the United Nations Resident Coordinator (RC). The United Nations team in the Philippines includes offices with regional and global mandates, includes more than 1,900 country-based personnel at the end of 2023.

Message by the UN Resident Coordinator

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I am proud to present the United Nations Philippines annual report which highlights key achievements of the United Nations in cooperation with the Government of the Philippines and other partners in 2023. This was the final year of the 2020-2023 United Nations Socioeconomic and Peacebuilding Framework for COVID-19 Recovery in the Philippines (SEPF).

2023 was a challenging year. The Philippines weathered global storms better than most. Against the headwinds of global financial, food and energy crises, which disproportionately impact the poor, the United Nations continued to work closely with Filipino institutions to promote and contribute to sustainable development. This collaborative approach brought the best of global public goods, resources and capacities at disposal to the people of the Philippines so that no one is left behind.

Key principles of our work were a strong push for the acceleration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and localization of solutions that are best fit for the Filipino context. We aimed to unlock the full development potential of everyone in the Philippines. To boost food and nutrition security, we combined our technical expertise coupled with resources from multilateral partners. This enabled the Government to launch ambitious and transformational food security initiatives which targeted the most vulnerable low-income households and directed resources to localities with the most pressing needs. To increase community resilience to climate change and disasters, the United Nations launched the Enhancing Resilient Communities (ERC) initiative which coincided with the tenth anniversary of Super Typhoon Haiyan (locally known as Yolanda) that had struck the country in 2013.

The convening function of the United Nations was put at the service of the Philippines in 2023. The United Nations raised public awareness about pressing global challenges and facilitated ways to address and mitigate dialogue with partners; a few examples included disaster risk reduction and the ethical use of artificial intelligence. In 2023, the United Nations development system in the Philippines contributed to the formulation and launch of more than 120 people-centred policies, laws and normative frameworks for the acceleration of SDGs.

We continued to translate a new generation of United Nations work into tangible, coherent and impactful results: we implemented a portfolio of 10 joint projects and multi-partner initiatives that demonstrated the added value of leveraging and complementing the wide and substantive expertise of the United Nations entities working closely together. This is just one example of the United Nations development system reform delivering tangible benefits and transformative change in the day-to-day lives of the people in the Philippines – from improving the health and livelihoods of women involved in artisanal small-scale gold mining and facilitating the social and economic reintegration of returning migrant workers to enabling women peace mediators prevent and resolve community conflicts in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

While marking the successful completion of the SEPF, the year 2023 also reaffirmed our strong commitment and partnership between the Government of the Philippines and the United Nations. The first new generation partnership framework, the Philippines 2024-2028 United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (CF), was signed on United Nations Day on 24 October 2023 and witnessed by the President of the Philippines Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. The CF is fully aligned with the Philippines’ long-term development vision articulated in AmBisyon Natin 2040 and the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028. The CF will guide our future work and collaboration with the Government and partners to ensure that no one in the Philippines is left behind as the country moves to become an upper middle-income nation.

I invite you to thoroughly examine this report that demonstrates United Nations Philippines’ accountability for our commitments to the people we serve. Our successes are inseparable from our strong partnerships with the Government of the Philippines, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations (CSOs), communities, youth groups, labour unions, development partners, the business community and the many individuals championing the rights of the most vulnerable.

Gustavo González, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator