Natural and man-made crises continue to dominate news headlines and they are becoming more complex and long-lasting.
UNDP has started a new generation of large-scale stabilization programmes, aiming at rapidly re-establishing basic services. The European Union has contributed to these efforts, along with many other partners.
They are meeting urgent humanitarian needs and paving the way for long-term development.
From restoring basic services to creating employment, we help people get back on their feet.
Although ISIL has been defeated in Iraq, 1.8 million people still can’t return home. The four million who have gone back to their war-damaged cities and towns urgently need schools and hospitals, and jobs to support their families.
Members of a UNDP-supported cash-for-work team clear rubble and debris from an area at Al Shifa Hospital Complex in West Mosul.
The hospital was used as one of ISIL’s headquarters and was heavily bombed in the battle to liberate the city.
Through a UNDP Funding Facility for Stabilization programme, thousands of men and women from Mosul are working on public schemes, earning an income while they help clean up their city. © UNDP Iraq / Claire Thomas
Laila Rasheed Saleh, 51, mother of two, from Hawija, participated in a UNDP-supported cash-for-work team.
Teams cleared rubble, painted roadside curbs and cleaned 19 public gardens and 21 schools, helping students to return to their classrooms.
Dependent upon others for support after her husband died, Laila and her family travelled to a camp for internally displaced people near Kirkuk. They returned home after their town was liberated from ISIL.
“The money I earned allowed me to buy medicine and shop for our daily life needs,” says Laila. “I will participate again to be able to add a concrete roof to my house, to stop water leaks when it rains.” © UNDP Iraq / Claire Thomas
Conflict, drought, and the fastest-spreading cholera outbreak in modern history have contributed to the world’s worst humanitarian disaster in Yemen where 80 percent of the country needs help.
Women sewing in a successful dressmaking workshop in Habil Jaber, Lajh Governorate. Similar projects supporting micro-enterprises have been established across Yemen.
With UNDP support for the engagement of Village Cooperative Councils (VCCs) – set up by the Social Fund for Development – communities can better cope with the devastation of the war. They have played an important role in empowering women to take leadership roles in their communities across Yemen.
Acceptance of women’s participation in VCCs has increased by 50 per cent. Women’s deep-rooted understanding of local needs and required communal improvements is crucial to their communities. ©UNDP Yemen
As part of a cash-for-work programme, an internally displaced man, now living in the Yazeed Mountain Refugee Camp in Taiz, removes rubble to help fix destroyed roads.
“When the war broke out, my family and I were forced to flee our home with nothing but what we could carry,” he remembers. “Until I joined this programme, I was desperate for work and money to enable me to care of my family. I finally have a glimmer of hope for our future.”
Nearly 1,200 vulnerable households and over 500 internally displaced households have been helped through cash-for-work, reclaiming 53,000 m3 of productive agricultural lands. © UNDP Yemen
War broke out in 2011 in Libya and the security situation remains unpredictable.
Under SFL—Stronger for Libya, UNDP works first with local partners, giving an effective voice to women and youth, to identify ways to stabilize the country.
Fatima Nasser and her partner Aziza Adam created a food delivery mobile application that connects home cooks with potential customers.
The app – Yummy – provides income for women in a country where only one in four women are employed. It also provides jobs for both men and women in Sebha, Tripoli and Benghazi, employing 10 people.
Aziza and her partner are among the six start-up ideas across Libya that received grants from the EU-UNDP funded initiative for Strengthening Local Capacities for Resilience and Recovery. ©UNDP Libya/ Malek Elmaghrebi
Students wash their hands at Omar al Mukhtar school in Tripoli.
The school, where 373 students receive their education, has clean and well-functioning washrooms renovated by UNDP’s Stabilization Facility for Libya.
©UNDP Libya/ Malek Elmaghrebi
Nigeria's North-East region has been ravaged by the decade long military insurgency by Boko Haram. The insurgency has resulted in a crisis of global magnitude - over two million people have been displaced across the region and more than thirty thousand people have died.
A pupil sits outside a newly constructed classroom block in North-East Nigeria.
Hundreds of schools were destroyed by Boko Haram.
UNDP has rebuilt several schools across the region, giving its youths a renewed chance at a good education. © UNDP Nigeria
Martina, 42, returns from her field in North-East Nigeria.
As a mother, and formerly displaced person, she is hopeful about the prospects of a good harvest, for the first time since the Boko Haram insurgency started close to a decade ago.
The crisis in the region displaced hundreds of farming community members, leaving many families dependent on humanitarian aid.
UNDP’s support in the region include providing equipment, fertilizer and seeds to help farmers revive their agricultural production.
A good harvest for Martina means she will be able to feed her family and sell part of the produce for extra income. © UNDP Nigeria
© 2026 United Nations Development Programme
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