United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)


The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) located in Geneva is an autonomous research institute within the UN system. It undertakes multidisciplinary research and policy analysis on the social dimensions of contemporary development challenges. Guided by its research strategy 2016-2020 entitled “Transformations to Equity and Sustainability”, UNRISD aims at contributing to the understanding of policymakers, United Nations experts, and the public at large about the social dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Country/region Topic Period Budget
Global
Governance
Gender

Public sector policy
Domestic revenue mobilisation
Women’s equality organisations and institutions
01.07.2017 - 31.12.2022
CHF 2'700'000
Background

The 2030 Agenda with its 17 SDGs is the overarching agreement of UN Member States for sustainable development and represents its legitimate guiding framework, globally and nationally, for the next 14 years. Through its Geneva-based research, UNRISD aims to ensure that considerations of social equity, inclusion and justice are central to development thinking, policy design and practice in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. UNRISD undertakes its research through networks of researchers, policy makers and civil society actors around the world who are partners in generating knowledge, and in engaging with processes to influence policies at national and local levels, as well as within the UN system. UNRISD is committed to working with researchers in developing countries in order to support their capacities to undertake high-quality research and to provide them with channels and platforms for disseminating their findings so that they reach global policy debates.

Objectives

The main goal of this contribution to UNRISD is to contribute to the global body of knowledge on social policy issues of great importance – such as gender, fragility or inequality - to ensuring the achievement of the social dimension of the 2030 Agenda.

Target groups

Development practitioners, academia, UN staff, SDC staff, developing country government agencies, public at large.

Medium-term outcomes

Knowledge and capacity of the UN system and the wider development community to address issues of social development in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda is generated and strengthened.

Results

Expected results:  

  • The research outlined in UNRISD’s 2016 – 2020 strategy is completed and disseminated;
  • UNRISD has contributed actively to UN policy discussions on issues related to the social dimension of sustainable development;
  • The research conducted by UNRISD is disseminated widely in the UN system and beyond;
  • The internal restructuring of UNRISD is completed, and the institute is financially sustainable.


Results from previous phases:  

From 2014 – 2016, SDC supported two UNRISD research projects entitled When Security Meets Social Security: Social Policy in Post Conflict Settings and The Politics of Domestic Resource Mobilization for Social Development. Both projects have yielded a large body of evidence in terms of research articles, publications, contributions to policy notes and blog posts which have informed policy debates on these issues in many countries. All outputs are publicly available on: www.unrisd.org.


Directorate/federal office responsible SDC
Credit area Development cooperation
Project partners Contract partner
United Nations Organization (UNO)
  • Other UN Organisation


Other partners

FDFA

Coordination with other projects and actors

UN Funds and Programs; South Center; SDC (in particular A + P, Gender Focal Point and Poverty Focal Point); FDFA (AIO).

Budget Current phase Swiss budget CHF   2'700'000 Swiss disbursement to date CHF   2'250'000
Project phases Phase 2 01.07.2017 - 31.12.2022   (Current phase) Phase 1 01.03.2014 - 31.12.2016   (Completed)