The United Nations Development Programme: How Can We Rebuild a Country and Economy Destroyed by War?

On May 29, 2026 the first session of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) opened with delegates debating the choice of setting new sustainable development goals versus post conflict development of the Russia-Ukraine war. The end of the first session closed with the UNDP passing the motion to set Topic B: The Russia-Ukraine War, as the more pressing issue.

The delegates who advocated for the reformation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) including the delegates of Algeria and Israel, where Algeria raised points on the structural failure of the United Nations SDGs and Israel talked about how only 15% of the UN SDGs had been on track. Even though all nations in the UN agreed to develop towards these specific goals supporting their accomplishment by the deadline they are still falling behind.

Those who were in support of discussing the Russia-Ukraine situation championed the crisis as far more pressing. The delegate of Ecuador claimed that the impending possibility of the Russia-Ukraine war feeding into itself, creating more humanitarian crises and war is a more dangerous issue as opposed to the future trajectory of the UN.

The other major issue discussed was the number of humanitarian crises that flourished during the war, and how the lives of refugees and civilians should be more important than the building of infrastructure. The overarching point raised is that regardless of infrastructure, in order for the country to rebound from war, the economy needs to start running, which requires civilians to return, and the job market to expand. This starts the loop of spending and income, propelling the economy and infrastructure much faster.

The infrastructure development post war and economic development are pressing issues that the UNDP will seek to solve. With donations months away, and the $300 billion in frozen Russian assets, the UNDP still has much to discuss, and the humanitarian aspects such as the civilians and the refugees need to be addressed in order for the sustainability of the future economy. In short the UNDP lacks the funds or ways to acquire said funds to begin the post war development of Ukraine.