UNDP Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development

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UNDP Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development IICPSD supports the private sector and foundations to become transformative partners in development. Follow us also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/IICPSD

The Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development (IICPSD) is the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) global organization mandated to leverage the role of the private sector in development. The IICPSD was established in Istanbul, Turkey on the basis of the Partnership Framework Agreement signed between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the United Nations Development Program in March 2011. The center is one of the six global thematic centers of UNDP, advocating and facilitating the contribution of the private sector to human development and inclusive growth. More specifically, IICPSD’s main goals are to:

• Support the development of inclusive markets and inclusive business models that engage poor people into value chains as producers, employees, consumers and entrepreneurs, with the end goal of poverty alleviation.
• Creation of a demand driven set of tools and guidelines for engaging the private sector in development, in key markets that will be used as best practices guidelines.
• Become a hub for programmatic private sector partnership for SDG implementation across UNDP, by designing, establishing and monitoring concrete global and national public private partnerships that creates results for development.
• Establish IICPSD as a global Centre of excellence for dialogue on private sector development by convening business and supporting actors. This could especially have a focus on South-South dialogue.

"The only remaining hope for women in Afghanistan is business."That is how one representative of female business owners ...
17/07/2026

"The only remaining hope for women in Afghanistan is business."

That is how one representative of female business owners in Herat described it to The New York Times in June, in a report on Afghan women who continue to trade despite restrictions on employment and on girls' education beyond the sixth grade.

More than 10,000 Afghan women hold a business licence today, up from under 1,000 before 2021, in a country where fewer than 7% of women were in work as of 2024. Since 2021, UNDP has reached over 90,000 micro, small and medium enterprises in Afghanistan with grants, equipment and business services.

Doel Mukerjee, UNDP Afghanistan's Deputy Resident Representative, on what sits behind the numbers.

Read the Q&A: https://www.undp.org/policy-centre/istanbul/press-releases/ten-times-more-afghan-women-hold-business-licenses-five-years-ago-we-asked-our-deputy-resident-representative

Sources:

The New York Times, June 2026: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/21/world/asia/women-taliban-restrictions-jobs-education.html

"Listening to Women Entrepreneurs in Afghanistan", UNDP/ICPSD with REACH and TEPAV, 2024: https://www.undp.org/afghanistan/publications/listening-women-entrepreneurs-afghanistan-their-struggle-and-resilience

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