The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today announced it will relocate a substantial share of positions currently based in its headquarters in New York City, US.
The move is part of an ongoing effort to adapt to an evolving financial and development landscape, strengthen partnerships, and maximize UNDP's ability to support the world's most vulnerable people.
The relocation will affect almost 400 posts, with approximately three-quarters of them transferring to Bonn, Germany and about one quarter to Madrid, Spain.
UNDP's overall footprint in Bonn will now exceed 400 positions as it is already the longstanding home of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, part of the UNDP family.
UNDP is grateful to Germany and Spain for offering to host the organization. These agreements will further strengthen our close working relationships as UNDP continues to focus on its core mandate of eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities, protecting the environment, and supporting crisis stabilization and recovery.
UNDP operates in some 170 countries and territories with a workforce of approximately 22,000, the vast majority of whom - more than 19,000 - serve in country offices and regional hubs, while fewer than 7 percent are based in New York, with the remainder in other locations. New York will remain UNDP's global headquarters.
At the start of 2026, UNDP also relocated 30 positions from New York to UNDP's regional offices in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Arab States, Central Europe, and Asia and the Pacific to position personnel closer to the communities they serve.
