Developing country governments: UNDP helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively. In each country office, the UNDP Resident Representative normally also serves as the Resident Coordinator of development activities for the United Nations system as a whole. Through such coordination, UNDP seeks to ensure the most effective use of UN and international aid resources.

The United Nations system: UNDP coordinates the development activities of the United Nations. It plays a key role in helping to reform the UN as part of the United Nations Development Group (UNDG). UNDP is also helping to reinforce joint action on development in such forums as the Economic and Social Council, and the General Assembly of the United Nations.

International financial institutions: International Financial Institutions (IFIs) are an important source of development funding. They account for a large portion of the non-core (earmarked, project-specific) funding of UNDP. UNDP has entered into formal agreements with some IFIs (the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank), and is working on additional agreements.

The private sector: The private sector can make an important contribution to development by fostering innovation, providing funding and promoting entrepreneurship in developing countries. In many of our programme countries the preconditions for private sector development and the emergence of inclusive markets (i.e. markets that extend choice and opportunity to the poor as producers, consumers and wage earners) are not yet in place. To facilitate inclusive market development, UNDP focuses on connecting and integrating local producers with domestic and global markets. This work is supported by the Growing Inclusive Markets (GIM) and Business Call to Action (BCtA) initiatives.

Foundations: Both global and local foundations are providing strong backing for UNDP's development activities. UNDP engages in three types of partnerships with foundations. The first and most common is the “donor-grantee” relationship. In such cases a foundations may award grants to UNDP in support of specific projects in line with their overall mission and priorities. The second is based on mutual information sharing. UNDP recognizes the tremendous knowledge that foundations offer in specific areas such as governance, environment or HIV/AIDS and works with them to utilize their expertise and knowledge capacities. The third type of partnership is forged at the community level. UNDP works in partnership with civil society organizations and community foundations in their efforts to better address issues on the local level.

Civil society organizations: For UNDP, civil society constitutes the full range of formal and informal organizations that are outside the state and market. This includes social movements, volunteer organizations, indigenous peoples' organizations, mass-based membership organizations, non-governmental organizations, and community-based organizations, as well as communities and citizens acting individually and collectively. UNDP partners with civil society organizations in programme implementation and policy advocacy. At the country level, this often means working with them to provide basic services in the areas of health, education, water delivery, agricultural extension and micro-credit provision.

Regions and local authorities: UNDP aims to develop strategic alliances with European Regions and Local Authorities for decentralized cooperation. The aim is to set up structures for local governance and development, and to broker UN partnerships that help to foster UN reform. Regions and local authorities can partner with UNDP through several programmes that HIP runs, such as the ART GOLD Programme (Governance and Local development), the LEDA Programme (Local Economic Development Agency) and the WACAP Programme (World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty).