Madrid to host new UNDP global headquarters to reduce workload at New York

The Diplomat The Spanish government and the United Nations have signed an agreement to relocate one of the two new global headquarters of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to Madrid. This move, announced last January, aims to reduce the workload at the UNDP's New York offices amidst US President Donald Trump's offensive against humanitarian aid and the UN itself. The agreement was signed this Thursday in Madrid by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and in New York by the UNDP Administrator and UN Under-Secretary-General, former Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. "Spain reinforces its commitment to multilateralism," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on social media. "Thanks to this agreement, Spain will host approximately one hundred UNDP employees in Madrid (...), particularly from the Policy and Programme Support and Administration departments," it continued. “Spain and UNDP are moving towards a Strategic Partnership Framework that will be formalized in the coming months, further strengthening this collaboration,” he added. On April 13, 2025, Spain signed a Framework Agreement with UNDP that included the possibility of establishing an office in Spain, and on January 19 of this year, the Program announced its intention to relocate a substantial portion of its staff from New York to other cities. Specifically, the measure will affect 400 employees, 300 of whom will move to Bonn (where the headquarters of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV), part of UNDP, is already located) and the remaining 100 to Madrid. According to a UNDP statement, this measure “is part of an ongoing effort to adapt to an evolving financial and development landscape, strengthen partnerships, and maximize UNDP’s capacity to support the world’s most vulnerable people.” “UNDP thanks Germany and Spain for offering to host the organization,” it continued. Five months later, on June 29, the Council of Ministers authorized the signing and provisional implementation of the Headquarters Agreement between Spain and UNDP. UNDP, established in 1949, operates in some 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality, with a staff of approximately 22,000, the vast majority of whom—more than 19,000—work in country offices and regional centers. Less than seven percent of them are based in New York, which will nevertheless remain the organization's headquarters. At the beginning of 2026, UNDP also relocated 30 positions from New York to its regional offices in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Arab States, Central Europe, and Asia and the Pacific “to position staff closer to the communities they serve.” The UNDP has an Executive Board made up of 36 members with three-year mandates and is headed by an administrator, who also chairs the United Nations Development Group.

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