After the murder of George Floyd, UNDP together with other UN funds, programmes and entities took up a renewed commitment to fight against racism and racial discrimination both within the organization and in its programmatic work. Since 2020, several steps have been taken to assess current challenges and to find appropriate responses to racism, including through the creation of a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategy which focuses on workplace situations, and through the appointment of a Senior Advisor on Anti-Racism, who is mandated to guide UNDP towards strengthening the application of an anti-racism lens in UNDP’s external development programming efforts.
During 2022-2023, the Senior Advisor on Anti-Racism 1 has carried out an assessment on UNDP’s programmatic and policy offer in which she examined ongoing efforts and available tools to ensure anti-racist programming. The report was shared and discussed with UNDP colleagues and senior leadership. The Senior Advisor's main recommendation was to further operationalize UNDP's anti-racism commitment by creating an organization-wide Anti-Racism Programming Action Plan. A Steering Group was established with the representation of each Bureau to assist in the preparation of the Action Plan which is scheduled to be adopted in July 2024. The Anti-Racism Programming Action Plan will cover the period of the current Strategic Plan, 2024-2025, and will be formulated based on the voluntary pledges of the various Bureaux.