Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027)

A/RES/76/218View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 24a Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027), published in 2021.

What other versions does this mandate have?

14 versions · 2003–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/153

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/153	Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027)	7,433	86%Compare
2024	A/RES/79/221	Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027)	7,361	83%Compare
2023	A/RES/78/164	Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027)	7,538	85%Compare
2022	A/RES/77/179	Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027)	6,933	89%Compare
2022	A/RES/76/218	Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027)	6,577	91%Compare

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

14 reports · 2004–2026

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2026	A/81/285	Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027) report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/80/153
2025	A/80/154	Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027) report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/79/221
2024	A/79/246	Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027) report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/78/164
2023	A/78/239	Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027) report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/77/179
2022	A/77/176	Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027) report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/76/218

What subjects does this mandate have?

10 subjects

Covid-19 Development Assistance Development Finance Economic Development Employment Creation International Decades Poverty Mitigation Programme Implementation Social Policy Unemployment

What’s in this document?

40 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General¹¹ reviewing recent progress made in implementing the Third United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018–2027), assessing gaps and challenges in eradicating poverty and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, outlining a summary of work by the United Nations system to implement the inter-agency, system-wide plan of action for poverty eradication and presenting recommendations for consideration by the General Assembly;

¹¹A/76/234.

Recognizes the importance of strengthening national statistical capacity and monitoring systems to ensure access to data that are of high quality, accessible, timely, reliable and disaggregated by income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migration status, disability and geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts, harnessing partnerships, fostering the global exchange of ideas and experiences and showcasing innovative and efficient initiatives and strategies to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities within and among countries and promote decent work for all;

Reaffirms that the objective of the Third Decade is to maintain the momentum generated by the implementation of the Second Decade and to support, in an efficient and coordinated manner, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,¹² and its Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 1, and their objective of leaving no one behind and reaching the furthest behind first, as well as other internationally agreed development goals;

¹²Resolution 70/1.

Also reaffirms that each country must take primary responsibility for its own sustainable development and that the role of national policies and development strategies for the achievement of sustainable development and poverty eradication cannot be overemphasized, and recognizes that increased effective national efforts should be complemented by concrete, effective and supportive international programmes, measures and policies aimed at expanding the development opportunities of developing countries, while taking into account national conditions and ensuring respect for national ownership strategies and sovereignty;

Notes that the world as a whole is not on track to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030, and stresses the resolve to eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere as well as the efforts to reduce, at least by half, the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its forms and dimensions, according to national definitions;

Expresses its deep concern that, while there has been progress in reducing poverty, such progress remains uneven, with 1.3 billion people in 109 developing countries still living in multidimensional poverty, this number continues to be significant and unacceptably high, the levels of inequality in income, wealth and opportunities remain high or are increasing within and between many countries, and the non-income dimensions of poverty and deprivation, such as access to quality education or basic health services, and relative poverty remain major concerns;

Recognizes that, despite its devastating impacts, the COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity to put forward policies for an inclusive and sustainable recovery, including by promoting, inter alia, investment in agriculture and food security, decent jobs, including sustainable job opportunities, universal health coverage, quality education and social protection systems to eradicate poverty, protect people in vulnerable situations, reduce inequalities and keep micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises afloat, with the support of multi-stakeholder partnerships, in this context welcomes the convening of the high-level event on jobs and social protection for poverty eradication by the Secretary-General on 28 September 2021 under the aegis of the Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond Initiative, takes note with appreciation of the United Nations Food Systems Summit, held on 23 and 24 September 2021, and its Pre-Summit, held in Rome from 26 to 28 July 2021, and looking forward to the discussion of the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit and recalls the United Nations Secretary-General’s call¹³ for a coordinated and comprehensive multilateral solidarity response amounting to at least 10 per cent of global gross domestic product, which can help developing countries to respond to the immediate health threat posed by the pandemic and its multifaceted effects, and takes note of the “Strategy to achieve global COVID-19 vaccination by mid-2022”, developed by the secretariat of the World Health Organization, outlining the stepped actions aimed at vaccinating 70 per cent of the world’s population against COVID-19 by mid-2022;

¹³See United Nations, “Shared responsibility, global solidarity: responding to the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19”, March 2020.

Calls upon the international community, including Member States and the organizations of the United Nations development system, including the funds and programmes and the specialized agencies, in accordance with their mandates, to continue to accord the highest priority to poverty eradication within the United Nations development agenda and to urgently take measures to address the root causes and challenges of poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, hunger, and all forms of malnutrition, in the light of their negative impacts on sustainable development, through integrated, coordinated and coherent strategies at all levels, in accordance with the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields, and calls upon donor countries, multilateral organizations and other development partners in a position to do so to support the effective national efforts of developing countries in this regard through predictable financial resources and technical assistance on bilateral and multilateral bases;

Also calls upon the international community, including Member States, to continue their ambitious efforts to strive for more inclusive, equitable, balanced, stable and development-oriented sustainable socioeconomic approaches to overcoming poverty, and, in view of the negative impact of all forms of inequality, including gender inequality and inequality within and between countries, on poverty, emphasizes the importance of structural transformation that leads to inclusive and sustainable industrialization for employment creation and poverty reduction, investing in sustainable agriculture and develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all, enhancing interconnectivity and achieving access to energy, and improving access to financial services, as well as promoting decent work in the rural economy, improving access to quality education, promoting quality health-care services, including through the acceleration of the transition towards equitable access to universal health coverage, providing affordable and secure housing for people in vulnerable situations, advancing gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, expanding social protection coverage, climate change mitigation and adaptation and combating inequality within and between countries and social exclusion, especially of the furthest behind;

Recognizes that poverty reduction also requires increasing productive capacity sustainably, and in this regard recalls the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and recognizes the contribution economic growth through, inter alia, increased productivity and a healthy and well-educated workforce, can make in reducing poverty in developing countries, and in this regard recognizes the importance of strengthening cooperation, including by considering increasing the allocation of the necessary means of implementation, such as financing, technology transfers on mutually agreed terms and capacity-building, so as to, inter alia, accelerate inclusive and sustainable industrialization and expand the production of vaccines, medical equipment and agricultural and industrial goods and strengthen the services sector, with a view to achieving greater economic diversification and technological development and innovation, while promoting inclusive labour markets as well as decent job creation and prosperity, and generating fiscal resources for the promotion of public policies to combat inequality and eradicate poverty, in particular extreme poverty, to leave no one behind;

Also recognizes the urgent need to address poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity, which will lead to rich payoffs across the Sustainable Development Goals, and encourages the international community to enhance international cooperation and to devote resources to developing rural and urban areas and sustainable agriculture and fisheries and to supporting smallholder farmers, especially women farmers, herders and fishers in developing countries, particularly in the least developed countries;

Invites all relevant stakeholders, including organizations of the United Nations system and civil society organizations, to share good practices relating to programmes and policies that address inequalities for the benefit of those living in extreme poverty and promote the active participation of those living in extreme poverty in the design and implementation of such programmes and policies, with the aim of achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Welcomes the contributions of South-South cooperation to poverty eradication and sustainable development, in this regard recalls the second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation, held in Buenos Aires from 20 to 22 March 2019, and its outcome document,¹⁴ reaffirms that South-South cooperation is an important element of international cooperation for development as a complement to, not a substitute for, North-South cooperation, recognizes that South-South and triangular cooperation contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to achieving the overarching goal of eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions, and commits to strengthening South-South and triangular cooperation as a means of bringing relevant experience and expertise to bear in development cooperation;

¹⁴Resolution 73/291, annex.

Emphasizes the importance of the outcome of the Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty of promoting and supporting the integration of decent work and poverty eradication into national and international policies, strategies and programmes, with a particular focus on those who risk being left behind, by, inter alia, implementing measures to formalize employment, consider introducing or strengthening minimum wages, guarantee respect for freedom of association and collective bargaining rights, combat all forms of discrimination in employment and end child and forced labour, including in agriculture and rural areas;

Notes with concern the continuing high levels of unemployment and underemployment, with 220 million people unemployed globally in 2020, a number that rose by 33 million during that year, recognizes that decent work for all remains one of the best routes out of poverty, and in this regard invites donor countries, multilateral organizations and other development partners to continue to assist Member States, in particular developing countries, in adopting policies consistent with the Global Jobs Pact adopted by the International Labour Conference at its ninety-eighth session;

Also notes with concern that, since the pandemic struck, more than 1.5 billion children and young people were affected by closures of educational institutions, with over 500 million children and young people estimated to have been left without access to remote learning options, in this regard recognizes that substantial and efficiently spent investments are needed to improve the quality of and access to education and in order to enable millions of people to acquire skills for decent work, and takes note with appreciation of the report of the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity and the recommendations contained therein, as appropriate;

Encourages the international community to support developing countries in their efforts to eradicate poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, and achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, the poor and people in vulnerable situations, with a view to achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals, as established by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which builds upon the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and addresses their unfinished business, improving tax systems and access to financial services, including affordable microfinance and credit, removing barriers to opportunity, enhancing productive capacity, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, encouraging the formalization and growth of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises, developing sustainable agriculture and promoting full and productive employment and decent work for all, emphasizing the important role of national efforts aimed at bringing workers from the informal to the formal economy, guided, as appropriate, by the Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015 (No. 204), of the International Labour Organization, complemented by national efforts on effective social policies, including social protection floors, and in this regard takes note of the Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), of the International Labour Organization;

Reaffirms that, while social protection has proved to be effective in reducing poverty and inequality, including non-contributory social protection programmes and cash transfers, coverage remains extremely low in countries with the highest poverty rates, also reaffirms that investments and innovation in the social sector, in particular in education and health, contribute to the alleviation of poverty and reduction of inequalities and enhance human resource development, and emphasizes the importance of ensuring that social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, are consistent with national development strategies, well designed, efficiently operated, responsive to shocks and sustainable in the long term;

Stresses the importance of taking targeted measures to eradicate poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, of implementing nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including social protection floors, and of achieving substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable, and encourages Member States to continue to develop and implement social protection floors based on national priorities, paying particular attention to women, children, older persons, indigenous peoples and persons with disabilities;

Reaffirms its commitment to embracing diversity in cities and human settlements, to strengthening social cohesion, intercultural dialogue and understanding, tolerance, mutual respect, gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, innovation, entrepreneurship, inclusion, identity and safety, and the dignity of all people, as well as to fostering liveability and a vibrant urban economy and to taking steps to ensure that local institutions promote pluralism and peaceful coexistence within increasingly heterogeneous and multicultural societies;

Acknowledges that good governance at the national and international levels and sustainable, inclusive, sustained and equitable economic growth, supported by full employment and decent work for all, and social integration, rising productivity and a favourable environment, including public and private investment, inter alia, public-private partnerships in a wide range of areas and entrepreneurship, are necessary to eradicate poverty, to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, in particular the Sustainable Development Goals, and to realize a rise in living standards, and that corporate social responsibility initiatives play an important role in maximizing the impact of public and private investment;

Stresses the importance of using multidimensional indicators and developing transparent measurements of progress on sustainable development that complement gross domestic product in order to effectively reflect the reality of the populations of all developing countries, eradicate poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, and reduce inequality everywhere, in accordance with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and encourages the United Nations system to continue to support developing countries in capacity development in such areas as building national statistical systems, data analysis and disaggregation, policy formulation and the mainstreaming of the Sustainable Development Goals into national development plans and strategies;

Recognizes that social and economic development depends on the sustainable management of the natural resources of the planet, and stresses the importance of conserving and sustainably using oceans and seas, freshwater resources, forests, mountains and drylands and protecting biodiversity, ecosystems and wildlife, as well as promoting sustainable tourism, tackling water scarcity and water pollution, strengthening cooperation on desertification, dust storms, degraded land and soil and drought, promoting resilience and disaster risk reduction, addressing decisively the threat posed by climate change and environmental degradation and implementing the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns;¹⁵

¹⁵A/CONF.216/5, annex.

Also recognizes that sustainable, inclusive, sustained and equitable economic growth is essential for eradicating poverty and hunger, in particular in developing countries, and stresses that national efforts in this regard should be complemented by an enabling international environment and by ensuring greater coherence among macroeconomic and social policies at all levels;

Stresses the importance of policies and actions that are not just gender-responsive but that actively seek to advance the goal of gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment as well as to address longer-term structural issues, including structural constraints faced by women as economic agents, and to remove any barriers that prevent women from being full participants in the economy, by, inter alia, undertaking legislation and administrative reforms, as appropriate, to give women equal rights with men in political and economic decision-making and access to economic resources and to promote the reconciliation of work and family responsibilities, including through paid maternity and parental leave and the redistribution of the disproportionate work burden of women engaged in unpaid work, including domestic and care work, encourages the private sector, in accordance with national legislation, to contribute to advancing gender equality by striving to ensure women’s full and productive employment and decent work, equal pay for equal work or work of equal value and equal opportunities, as well as by protecting them against discrimination and abuse in the workplace, and underlines that globally, gross domestic product could increase significantly if every country achieved gender equality and increased participation of women in the formal labour force;

Emphasizes the reference in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to the need to ensure the significant mobilization of financial and non-financial resources from a variety of sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, as well as regional, subregional and interregional cooperation, in order to provide predictable means for all developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its forms and dimensions;

Stresses that the achievement of sustainable development and the eradication of poverty also hinge on the ability and readiness of countries to effectively mobilize domestic resources, attract foreign direct investment, fulfil official development assistance (ODA) commitments and use ODA effectively, and facilitate the transfer of technology, on mutually agreed terms, to developing countries, also stresses that the resolution of unsustainable debt situations is critical for heavily indebted poor countries, while remittances, the transaction costs for which should be reduced, have become a significant source of income and finance for receiving economies and their contribution to the achievement of sustainable development;

Welcomes the increasing efforts to improve the quality of ODA and to increase its development impact, recognizes the Development Cooperation Forum of the Economic and Social Council, notes other initiatives, such as the high-level forums on aid effectiveness, which produced, inter alia, the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, the Accra Agenda for Action¹⁶ and the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, which make important contributions to the efforts of the countries that have made commitments to them, including through the adoption of their fundamental principles, and bears in mind that there is no one-size-fits-all formula that will guarantee effective assistance and that the specific situation of each country needs to be fully considered;

¹⁶A/63/539, annex.

Recognizes that domestic resource mobilization, underscored by the principle of national ownership and supplemented by international assistance, as appropriate, will be critical to realizing sustainable development and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals;

Emphasizes that international public finance plays an important role in complementing the efforts of countries to mobilize public resources domestically, especially in the poorest and most vulnerable countries with limited domestic resources;

Recognizes that private business activity, entrepreneurship, investment and innovation are major drivers of productivity, inclusive economic growth and job creation and that private international capital flows, particularly foreign direct investment, along with a stable international financial system, are vital complements to national development efforts, also recognizes that more can be done to create competitive business and investment climates in support of sustainable development that are well placed to attract private sector investment and participation, and encourages an increase in the volume, quality, in particular its alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals, diversification and long-term nature of foreign direct investment to all developing countries;

Notes that an important use of international public finance, including ODA, is to catalyse additional resource mobilization from other sources, public and private, and through appropriately designed risk-sharing instruments, including co-investments, public-private partnerships and guarantees, and also notes that it can support improved tax collection, help to strengthen domestic enabling environments and build essential public services and can also be used to unlock additional finance through blended or pooled financing and risk mitigation, notably for infrastructure and other investments that support private sector development;

Stresses the importance of mobilizing greater domestic support towards the fulfilment of ODA commitments, including by raising public awareness, providing disaggregated data on aid effectiveness and demonstrating tangible results, encourages partner countries to build on progress achieved in ensuring that ODA is used effectively to help to achieve development goals and targets, also encourages the publication of forward-looking plans that increase the clarity, predictability and transparency of future development cooperation, in accordance with national budget allocation processes, and urges countries to track and report resource allocations for advancing gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls;

Welcomes that, according to preliminary data in 2020, ODA rose by 3.5 per cent, compared with 2019, and bilateral (country-to-country) aid to least developed countries rose by 1.8 per cent, but expresses concern that ODA was, on average, 0.32 per cent of the aggregate donor gross national income, below the commitment of 0.7 per cent, reiterates that the fulfilment of all ODA commitments remains crucial and that, for many least developed countries and landlocked developing countries, ODA remains the largest source of external financing, and therefore emphasizes the importance of the commitments made by many countries to achieve the national target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income and 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of gross national income for ODA to the least developed countries, and calls upon developed countries to deliver on their commitments in relation to ODA;

Encourages all relevant stakeholders, as appropriate, to strengthen United Nations funding for the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, through voluntary contributions to existing poverty-related system-wide funds;

Welcomes the ongoing work by the relevant organizations of the United Nations system to support the implementation of the Third Decade, acknowledges the complexity of the challenge of poverty eradication, in this regard emphasizes the need to strengthen the leadership role of the United Nations in promoting international cooperation for development in accelerating poverty eradication and effectively implementing the Third Decade, and that the organizations of the United Nations development system must be driven by national priorities, including through the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, with the development of national capacities and development strategies in developing countries continuing to be a core area of focus, and operate in an integrated, coordinated and coherent manner, through development programmes and projects that address poverty eradication as their underlying objective, within their respective mandates, in order to ensure that gains are irreversible, making full use of the interlinked and mutually reinforcing pillars of the United Nations development system, and encourages the use of diverse strategies;

Calls upon the international community to give priority to addressing the impacts of natural disasters, climate change, conflicts and major outbreaks of disease, which are severely hampering efforts to achieve poverty eradication, in particular in developing countries;

Recognizes the importance of addressing the diverse needs of and challenges faced by countries in special situations, in particular African countries, the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States, as well as the specific challenges facing many middle-income countries and countries in conflict and post-conflict situations, and therefore requests the United Nations development system, the international financial institutions, regional organizations and other stakeholders to ensure that these diverse and specific development needs are appropriately considered and addressed, in a tailored fashion, in their relevant strategies and policies, with a view to promoting a coherent and comprehensive approach towards individual countries;

Welcomes the twenty-ninth commemoration, on 17 October 2021, of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, invites all States, organizations of the United Nations system, intergovernmental organizations concerned and interested national organizations, including non-governmental organizations, to consider organizing activities for the thirtieth commemoration, in 2022, of the International Day, in order to raise public awareness of efforts to promote the eradication of poverty and extreme poverty in all countries, and in this regard recognizes the useful role that the observance of the International Day continues to play in raising public awareness and mobilizing all stakeholders in the fight against poverty and promoting the active participation of those living in extreme poverty in the design and implementation of programmes and policies that affect them, with the aim of achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session a report on the gaps, challenges and progress made in the implementation of the Third Decade, including COVID-19-related aspects, effects and response, and decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-seventh session, under the item entitled “Eradication of poverty and other development issues”, the sub-item entitled “Implementation of the Third United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018–2027)”, unless otherwise agreed.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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