The Cooperation Framework

United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework

The United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (formerly named United Nations Development Assistance Framework) is the most important instrument for planning and implementation of the UN development activities at country level. The Cooperation Framework—an agreement between the UN and the host government—determines and reflects the UN development system’s contributions in the country and shapes the configuration of UN assets required inside and outside the country.

The Cooperation Framework guides the entire UN country team programme cycle, driving planning, implementation, monitoring, reporting and evaluation of collective UN support for achieving the 2030 Agenda.

The Cooperation Frameworks are rooted in four key objectives. 

1. They must clearly articulate the United Nations' collective response to help countries address national priorities and gaps in their pathway towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Cooperation Framework is a vehicle for supporting economic transformation, offering options to reframe economic policies and practices around sustainability for inclusive, diversified and job-intensive economic transformation that advances the rights and well-being of all citizens, strengthens economies and protects the planet. 
    
2. The Cooperation Framework must embody the spirit of partnerships that are at the core of the 2030 Agenda. That means partnerships with host governments, but also partnerships with all stakeholders—civil society, academia, parliaments, the private sector, bilateral partners—to leverage everyone’s strengths and drive transformative change. 
    
3. The Cooperation Frameworks must help turn the collective promise of the 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind into tangible action for people on the ground, especially the most vulnerable. UN country teams will need, more than ever, to move beyond national averages to look at more specific data, with a strengthened focus on inclusion and tackling inequalities. 
    
4. The Cooperation Frameworks must provide UN country teams with the tools to tailor responses to specific national needs and realities, ensuring that all UN entities, whether present on the ground or not, can effectively support national implementation of the 2030 Agenda. 

"We know that achieving the 2030 Agenda for everyone, everywhere is humanity’s best chance of ensuring the progressive realization of human rights and a future of peace and prosperity for all. The new UN Cooperation Frameworks offer a tremendous opportunity to scale up implementation of the 2030 Agenda and demonstrate concrete results on the ground." 

  - Amina J. Mohammed, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group