As the United Nations marks its 80th anniversary this month, the world faces some of the greatest challenges in human history: widening inequality, the existential threat of a climate emergency, a weakening multilateral system, and an international financial system unfit to deliver on the shared roadmap of the Sustainable Development Goals. Many are understandably asking how the UN can uphold the values of the Charter and fulfil its purpose in such a complex era.
Concerned with just this question, the UN Secretary-General launched a sweeping reform agenda eight years ago to make the Organization more coherent, responsive, and closely aligned with the priorities of each country. Today, these reforms are being furthered through the UN@80 initiative, which is designed to ensure that the UN’s resources are optimally efficient, and targeted where they can make the greatest difference.
For decades, despite the real and life-saving achievements of the international development community, efforts have faced some common challenges: fragmentation, overlapping initiatives, limited resources, and misalignment between national priorities and global or partner objectives. The UN reforms seek to reverse that pattern: uniting efforts, strengthening national ownership, and achieving greater impact in people’s lives.
A Partnership Rooted in Eritrean Values
Eritrea offers a distinctive example of reform in action. The country’s history of struggle and its philosophy of self-reliance have shaped a model of cooperation founded on mutual respect and shared responsibility. As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently emphasized, “Eritrea’s commitment to self-reliance does not mean isolation. It is a foundation for genuine cooperation—based on mutual respect, shared responsibility, and a common purpose.”
That principle defines Eritrea’s engagement with the UN. The partnership on development is guided by a Cooperation Framework, a jointly agreed plan that reflects national priorities and serves as the main instrument for planning and implementing efforts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. All UN-supported work derives from this framework, ensuring alignment and national ownership.
In operational terms, the partnership is coordinated through well-defined arrangements on both sides. On the Government side, the Ministry of Finance and National Development coordinates the UN development interface, ensuring support is effective and transparent. On the UN side, the Resident Coordinator’s Office serves as the entry point, ensuring coherence and accountability across agencies while leveraging the full UN system, including entities not present in country.
This approach embodies the intention of the UN’s reforms. It compels the multilateral system and its partners to deliver better through coordinated support and keeps Eritrea’s priorities at the center of development efforts. By working in this way, the UN Country Team has aligned with the country’s vision for progress in food security, health, education, climate resilience, data systems, and renewable energy.
Tangible Progress for Eritrean Communities
Despite a small in-country presence, the UN team is leveraging regional expertise, global resources, catalytic funding, and community partnerships behind the Government’s vision. And the results are visible.
The UN Country Team’s 2024 Annual Report highlighted that facility births rose from 71 percent in 2023 to 81 percent in 2024, reaching more than 61,000 women. Fourteen subzobas, almost a quarter of the country, have declared themselves FGM-free, with eleven more on track by end of 2025. Girls’ retention in primary school now equals that of boys. Fish production has grown by two-thirds in a single year, thanks to new ice-production infrastructure and support for local markets. Community-led initiatives have improved water access, land management, and climate resilience, enhancing livelihoods and environmental sustainability. And social protection systems have been strengthened with a focus on the most vulnerable.
Such outcomes are not accidental. They demonstrate how a coherent framework and coordinated delivery, informed and led by local priorities, translate the principles of reform into real impact on the ground.
Reform Requires Resources and Resolve
Eritrea’s experience shows what can be achieved when national ownership meets an integrated UN system. Yet broader systemic constraints remain. Globally, funding for development is shrinking, and what remains is often tied to short-term projects or conditions that limit flexibility. Efficiency alone cannot replace investment. Real reform will require political will, sufficient and predictable financing, and fair access to resources so every country can lead its own path to development. It will also depend on renewed solidarity, partners that trust national leadership, and a multilateral system that rewards collaboration over fragmentation.
Looking Ahead
As the UN enters its ninth decade, global cooperation for local solutions has never been more urgent and necessary. Eritrea’s experience shows that when genuine partnership guide our efforts, real progress can result. The challenge is how we reflect these lessons into our broader multilateral system, and put people and a sense of shared purpose at the center. If we do, the next chapter of the UN’s story will undoubtedly be one that sees the values of the UN Charter and the ambition of leaving no one behind come fully to fruition.