UNDP Urges Recovery From Day One as 160 Million People Risk Being Trapped in Crisis

UNDP’s new Moving Beyond Crisis Action Agenda calls for development support from the first day of a crisis, backed by investment that continues through recovery.

More than 160 million people could remain trapped in crisis without the sustained support needed to rebuild their lives, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has warned, calling for recovery investment to begin alongside emergency assistance. These people still need humanitarian support but fall outside the 87 million prioritized for lifesaving assistance in 2026. Humanitarian agencies are concentrating limited resources on the most urgent and severe needs, leaving a pressing need for development investment that helps communities restore livelihoods, rebuild essential services and reduce their dependence on repeated emergency support.

Recovery Cannot Wait for a Crisis to End

UNDP's new Moving Beyond Crisis Action Agenda calls for development support from the first day of a crisis, backed by investment that continues through recovery. Launched during the UN General Assembly High-Level Week at an event convened by Lebanon's government, the European Union and UNDP, the agenda challenges the idea that rebuilding must wait until an emergency has formally ended.

UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo described recovery in everyday terms: people want to work, send their children to school, reopen businesses and trust the institutions serving them. His message places those needs alongside immediate survival, with early development action helping communities regain control of their lives, reduce future humanitarian needs and become better prepared for another shock.

The figures presented by UNDP show the scale of the pressure: 61 state-based conflicts across 36 countries in 2024, the highest number since the Second World War, and 117.2 million forcibly displaced people worldwide. Official development assistance fell 23 percent in 2025, the largest annual decline on record, squeezing resources as prolonged and interconnected crises leave more communities struggling to recover.

Lebanon Warns Against a Recovery Funding Gap

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said his country is managing relief, recovery and reconstruction at the same time, reflecting how prolonged crises have blurred the boundaries between these stages. He warned that the end of an emergency funding cycle must not create a gap in recovery financing, stressing that international support should strengthen the state's capacity to serve people instead of establishing separate systems around it.

European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica pointed to the adoption of a second €505 million tranche within the EU's €1 billion package for Lebanon. The support covers recovery, reforms, institutions, security and protection for vulnerable people, with Šuica linking lasting stability to a sovereign Lebanon whose effective state institutions exercise full control over its territory. She reaffirmed European support for early recovery and reconstruction across the region.

Investment Turns Survival Into a Chance to Rebuild

The agenda calls for using development finance more strategically to reduce investment risks and attract additional public and private capital into crisis settings. UNDP says it has helped align and mobilize more than US$63 billion across 27 fragile and crisis contexts, supporting investment in places where uncertainty can discourage financing despite urgent needs.

Practical work is already underway in several countries. EU-funded UNDP programmes in Lebanon are helping communities clear rubble and unexploded ordnance, repair critical infrastructure and restore public services. In Yemen, UNDP and the World Bank are working with local institutions to restore livelihoods and productive assets and expand digital payments and financial services during the continuing crisis. UNDP technical assistance in Ukraine has helped unlock US$1.6 billion in European Investment Bank financing for schools, hospitals and critical infrastructure.

Functioning markets, reliable services and institutions people can depend on give families a stronger foundation for recovery. Without them, communities remain exposed to further shocks, and the need for assistance can be prolonged, making sustained development support essential to helping people rebuild lives beyond survival.