UN India Annual Report 2021

The UN in India 2021 Annual Report gives an overview of how the UN in India, partnering closely with the Government and our stakeholders in civil society, the private sector, and communities, redoubled our efforts to save lives, protect people and build back better through the second year of the pandemic.

This report covers the penultimate year of the UN - Government of India Sustainable Development Framework (UNSDF) 2018-2022, which continued to guide our support to India’s development priorities, even as we repurposed a significant part of our planned activities and budget towards the COVID-19 response.

We worked to respond to the health emergency, training frontline workers, delivering essential equipment and medical supplies, addressing misinformation, and supporting India’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign — the world’s largest. We also responded to the social and economic impact of the pandemic, working to ensure everyone, especially the most marginalised, had access to social safety nets and that households and businesses stayed afloat. We combatted malnutrition and food insecurity, and continued to respond to the unprecedented disruption faced by children and adolescents impacted by school closures. And we didn’t lose sight of the greatest existential threat of all, continuing to partner with the Government of India in responding to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and rising levels of pollution. Throughout the year, we remained focused on ensuring that the recovery was gender-sensitive and that gender equality was at the centre of all of our initiatives.