New Framework Sets Out Strategy for Next Five Years

On 1 January 2017 the new United Nation’s Strategic Framework for cooperation between the UN and the Government of DPR Korea came into effect. The Strategic Framework sets out the agreed priorities for the UN's country-level work in the DPR Korea. It was signed on 1 September 2016 by the Secretary General of the National Coordinating Committee of the DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UN Resident Coordinator, along with representatives of 13 UN agencies.

The strategic objective over the next five years is to support and reinforce national efforts to improve the well-being of the people, paying particular attention to the most vulnerable groups.  The UNSF embodies a comprehensive view of the UN's work in the country, encompassing the work of both resident UN agencies as well as non-resident specialized agencies, and it adopts a holistic approach, integrating humanitarian considerations with longer term development.

Globally, humanitarian and development partners agreed in 2016 on a new way of working aimed at reducing the need for humanitarian action by investing in communities to help them be better prepared for and respond to shocks. Under the new five-year strategy, the UN’s work in DPRK is intended to reflect the seamless relationship between relief, recovery, rehabilitation and development.

The UNSF identifies four strategic priorities, which the UN will seek to address at the country level, working in support of Government programmes:

1. Food and Nutrition Security

2. Social Development Services

3. Resilience and Sustainability

4. Data and Development Management

In addressing these four strategic priorities in collaboration with the Government, the UN will apply a number of cross-cutting approaches throughout its work.

• It will seek to localize the new Sustainable Development Goals, to accord with the specific situation in DPR Korea
• It will apply a human rights-based approach, which puts people at the centre, throughout its programmes
• It will support the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women
• It will pursue both environmental sustainability as well as institutional sustainability
• It will seek to increase the resilience of the people of DPR Korea
• It will do all this with an attention to results-based management.

This is why the overall, uniting theme of this Strategic Framework is "sustainable and resilient human development". It should be viewed in the context of parallel programming processes undertaken by the UN agencies working in DPRK. The UNSF provides an overall strategy, with priorities within which the individual programmes can be designed and implemented.

The UN Strategic Framework 2017-2021 has been signed by the principal stakeholders, including the Government of DPRK, to indicate a collective commitment to its successful implementation and to improving the lives of the people of DPR Korea.