• Get involved

Case studies of sustained and successful development cooperation - Supporting Transformational Change Booklet

October 30, 2015.

UNDP has been engaged in development cooperation for more than 50 years. While the modalities of its projects and programmes have evolved, the ultimate purpose of its work has remained the same: to assist UN Member States to improve the living standards and life opportunities of their citizens (empow¬ered lives) by supporting the development of national capacity so that member states can manage their own development programmes (resilient nations). UNDP has not been the only development agency which has worked towards this objective, and indeed it has always worked as an integral part of the wider UN System in each country, as well as alongside many other multilateral, bilateral and non-governmental practitioners. Nonetheless, UNDP is one of those with the longest engagement, the broadest mandate, the most partner countries and the most extensive country representation.

The value of development cooperation is under renewed challenge and UNDP is embarking on a process of institutional renewal. The time is ripe, therefore, for UNDP to identify and document examples of successful and sustained development cooperation that have contributed to transformational change at the country or subregional level. These examples — presented here — help to identify generic lessons for successful development cooperation that can be applied in future programme design and implementation.

Document Type

Related publications.

text

Publications

The cost-of-living crisis in mozambique: poverty impacts ....

This paper finds the limited mitigation potential of tax measures, but alternative policies, such as cash transfers, have nearly three times greater mitigation ...

cover

Annual Status Report 2023: Global Project for Managing De...

This 2023 Annual Status Report provides an overview of the key results achieved by the UNDP Global Project over the past year in the areas of monitoring, policy...

text

Getting Ahead of the Crisis Curve: UNDP's Approach to Mul...

The UNDP Practice Note on Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Preparedness pushes for a proactive shift from reactive crisis response to preventive action, emphasizi...

background pattern

Multi-speed growth is back, with a fiscal blind spot

While 68 developing economies are currently growing at more than 4%, the projected effects on poverty are uneven. Looking forward, high levels of debt and weak ...

case study on sustainable development

The politics of inequality: Why are governance systems no...

Starting from a theoretical framework that conceptualizes policy outcomes as the result of complex interactions between actors, institutions and discourses, thi...

case study on sustainable development

SDG Push through Social Protection Programmes: Reflecting...

This brief explores such questions by revisiting women who participated in a UNDP social protection initiative in one of Bangladesh’s most climate-vulnerable di...

Triple Wins for Sustainable Development - case studies of sustainable development in practice

case study on sustainable development

case study on sustainable development

Book series

SpringerBriefs on Case Studies of Sustainable Development

About this book series.

The importance of sustainable development has been realized for at least 60 years, even though the vast majority of people erroneously think this concept originated with the Brundtland Commission report of 1987 on Our Common Future. In spite of at least six decades of existence, we only have some idea as to what is NOT sustainable development rather than what is. SpringerBriefs on Case Studies of Sustainable Development identify outstanding cases of truly successful sustainable development from different parts of the world and analyze enabling environments in depth to understand why they became so successful. The case studies will come from the works of public sector, private sector and/or civil society. These analyses could be used in other parts of the world with appropriate modifications to account for different prevailing conditions, as well as text books in universities for graduate courses on this topic. The series of short monographs focuses on case studies of sustainable development bridging between environmental responsibility, social cohesion, and economic efficiency. Featuring compact volumes of 50 to 125 pages (approx. 20,000—70,000 words), the series covers a wide range of content—from professional to academic—related to sustainable development. Members of the Editorial Advisory Board: Mark Kramer, Founder and Managing Director, FSG, Boston, MA, USA Bernard Yeung, Dean, NUS Business School, Singapore

  • Asit K. Biswas,
  • Cecilia Tortajada

Book titles in this series

Poverty alleviation case analysis in china.

Poverty Alleviation Best Practice via Practices and SDG Strategies

  • International Poverty Reduction Center In China
  • Copyright: 2024

Available Renditions

case study on sustainable development

Off-Grid Water Supply

Should It Be Mainstreamed?

  • Pawan K. Sachdeva
  • Asit K. Biswas
  • Ojasvee Arora
  • Copyright: 2023

case study on sustainable development

Urban Water Demand Management

A Guidebook for ASEAN

  • Corinne Ong
  • Open Access

case study on sustainable development

Islands and Resilience

Experiences from the Pandemic Era

  • Can-Seng Ooi
  • Roxane de Waegh
  • Cristina Alexandra Trifan
  • Yunzi Zhang

case study on sustainable development

Revitalising Rural Communities

  • Jessica M. Williams
  • Wai-Fung Lam
  • Winnie W.Y. Law
  • Copyright: 2021

case study on sustainable development

Publish with us

United Nations Sustainable Development Logo

case studies

UN-Water

SDG 6 country acceleration case studies

UNDP/Costa Rica

A core part of UN-Water’s role is to support countries to accelerate progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6): to ensure affordable and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030.

UN-Water supports United Nations Resident Coordinators and United Nations Country Teams by connecting them to the expertise and assistance of UN-Water’s Members and Partners, thereby increasing capacity, strengthening coordination and facilitating action via the SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework , as well as through other initiatives.

Sharing best practice is critically important. New country acceleration case studies explore countries’ pathways to achieving accelerated progress on SDG 6 and document replicable good practices for achieving the SDG 6 targets at the national level. 

The main audience for the case studies are national policymakers and technical policy advisors across SDG 6 related sectors, with United Nations Country Teams as a secondary target group. Three case studies will be developed per year over a period of three years.

The case studies from 2022 focus on:

  • Costa Rica .

For media and interview requests, contact us on: [email protected] mentioning [Media request] in the subject heading.

News and Media

Get the latest news from UN-Water; Understand what is happening around the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; Interact in our campaigns; Explore newly released publications and where events are taking place around the world.

IMAGES

  1. Itaipu’s 17 Case Studies Responding to the 17 Sustainable Development

    case study on sustainable development

  2. Sustainability

    case study on sustainable development

  3. 17 Case Studies by ASAZGUA detailing activities contributing to the 17

    case study on sustainable development

  4. Sustainability

    case study on sustainable development

  5. Sustainable Development Case Studies

    case study on sustainable development

  6. Sustainability

    case study on sustainable development

VIDEO

  1. Ngati Pourou Case Study Sustainable Livelihoods

  2. module-2 Case study–Sustainable shrimp for a sustainable future||Make an Impact with Data Analytics

  3. Why study in PhD. in Sustainable Leadership?

  4. Why study in PhD. in Sustainable Leadership?

  5. Why study in PhD. in Sustainable Leadership?

  6. Why study in PhD. in Sustainable Leadership?