Tokyo, June 2026 – The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) have signed a new four-year Joint Collaboration Framework (2026–2030) to help forcibly displaced people move beyond long-term aid dependency and rebuild their lives. The agreement was formalized on the margins of the UN Chief Executives Board meeting in Tokyo, as global displacement reaches unprecedented levels.
With 117 million people forcibly displaced worldwide, many remain without stable jobs, services, or opportunities for years. The partnership aims to align humanitarian protection with development investments, focusing on strengthening national and local systems, expanding economic opportunities, and mobilizing development and climate finance in displacement-affected areas.
UNDP Administrator Alexander de Croo emphasized the stability challenge displacement poses: “Through this partnership with UNHCR, we are helping countries move beyond short-term emergency response by investing early in solutions, services, jobs and financing that allow displaced people and host communities to rebuild their lives.”
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih added: “Humanitarian assistance saves lives, but it cannot be the end point. Too many refugees depend on emergency aid for years because opportunities to rebuild their lives with dignity are out of reach. Through this partnership with UNDP, we are expanding pathways to inclusion, self-reliance and lasting solutions.”
The framework builds on previous agreements, shifting from coordination to joint strategic delivery. In priority countries, UNHCR and UNDP will integrate protection, livelihoods, local governance, recovery, climate resilience, and financing into nationally led displacement responses.
The partnership comes amid growing concern over the links between displacement and climate change, as well as economic fragility in countries hosting large numbers of displaced people. Japan, hosting the signing ceremony, has been a long-standing champion of nexus approaches that connect humanitarian response, development, and peacebuilding.
By combining humanitarian protection with development investments, the new framework aims to create pathways to inclusion, strengthen resilience, and support displaced people and host communities in shaping a more stable future.
