PNUD Costa Rica

What PNUD Costa Rica does

PNUD Costa Rica is the country office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), operating in Costa Rica since the agency's global founding in 1965. As a non-profit multilateral entity, PNUD Costa Rica designs, funds, and executes sustainable development, governance, peacebuilding, and environmental programmes in partnership with the Costa Rican government, civil society, and indigenous communities. In 2024, the office executed $15 million across 26 active projects, reached approximately 1.5 million beneficiaries across all 50 cantons, and served 24 indigenous territories with a core staff of 39 employees.

The office's product portfolio comprises data platforms, digital tools, and programmatic frameworks. Key offerings include the Atlas de Desarrollo Humano Cantonal (a cantonal-level human development data platform), SIMODER (a development data system), the App de Microaprendizaje sobre Educación Financiera (a mobile financial education tool), the Gestión del Conocimiento (knowledge management) platform, the Mecanismo para Reclamaciones (grievance mechanism), the Programa de Pequeñas Donaciones (small grants programme), and policy publications such as the Informe Anual and Plan de Acción Nacional. These products are built on standard web and mobile architectures for data publishing, e-learning, and stakeholder engagement.

PNUD's business model is funded entirely through voluntary contributions from UN Member States and institutional donors, with no commercial revenue stream. The office mobilizes donor resources and channels them into project execution, operating within the broader UNDP framework spanning 170 countries. Go-to-market is institutional: PNUD engages directly with national and local government partners, indigenous territorial authorities, and UN system entities to identify programme priorities, secure co-financing, and deliver interventions. Revenue mechanics are project-based, tied to multi-year donor commitments and annual execution cycles rather than recurring commercial contracts.

Name

PNUD Costa Rica

Legal name

Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo

Website

https://cr.undp.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1965

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

PNUD Costa Rica is the UNDP country office in Costa Rica, executing UN-funded sustainable development, governance, and peacebuilding programmes across all 50 cantons and 24 indigenous territories with a $15 million annual portfolio.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

International Development Services

NAICS

International Affairs (92812), Public Administration (92)

SIC

Foreign Governments (8888)

akta.pro primary industry

Technical Cooperation, Capacity Building & Policy Advisory Programs (BPADABAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

Governance, Public Financial Management & Service Delivery Reform (BPADAEAD), International Grantmaking & Development Foundations (BPAGAKAH), Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus & Resilience Programming (BPADAEAK), Climate, Environment & Natural Resource Management Aid Programs (BPADABAI)

Keywords

• Sustainable development programmes
• Policy advisory services
• Capacity building services
• Development assistance grants
• Governance strengthening

Headquarters

HQ city

San José

HQ country

Costa Rica

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Voluntary contributions from Member States: PNUD depends completely on voluntary contributions from UN Member States, multilateral organizations, the private sector, and other funding sources. These include unrestricted basic resources and contributions earmarked for specific themes, programmes, or projects.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

PNUD Costa Rica delivers integrated sustainable development solutions for the Government of Costa Rica and its people, including policy advisory, institutional capacity building, and on-the-ground programme implementation aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Its offering portfolio comprises digital data and knowledge platforms (Atlas de Desarrollo Humano Cantonal, Plataforma de Gestión del Conocimiento), a mobile financial-education app for women, a small-grants programme for community-based initiatives, a local citizen-security tool (SIMODER), and a public donation platform (Huella del Futuro), all delivered through partnerships with government, civil society, and indigenous communities.

Product overview

PNUD Costa Rica operates as the United Nations Development Programme's country office, offering a portfolio of digital platforms, mobile applications, knowledge management tools, and grant programs focused on sustainable development. The core offerings include the Atlas de Desarrollo Humano Cantonal (a digital statistics and analysis platform for municipal development), the Gestión del Conocimiento platform (institutional knowledge management), and the App de Microaprendizaje (financial education mobile app). These are complemented by grant programs like the Programa de Pequeñas Donaciones and various policy publications and reports. The organization also operates donation platforms like Huella del Futuro and grievance mechanisms for project accountability.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Atlas de Desarrollo Humano Cantonal: Digital platform providing municipal management and citizen security data to explore quality of life at the cantonal level in Costa Rica.
• Huella del Futuro
• Plataforma de Gestión del Conocimiento PNUD Costa Rica

Quantifiable outcome

• 1.5 million people benefited in 2024
• +3 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• United Nations SystemcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPNUD operates as part of the broader UN System in Costa Rica, collaborating through joint programmes such as the Joint Programme of Peaceful Coexistence in the Northern Zone, contributing to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• Global Environment Facility (GEF) / Small Grants ProgrammecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Small Grants Programme (SGP) executed by UNDP/GEF supports community-based initiatives in areas such as blue economy and circular economy, including projects on Isla Chira.
• Costa Rican GovernmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational and municipal government institutions collaborate with UNDP Costa Rica on policy development, governance strengthening, and implementation of development programmes across 50 cantons.
• Indigenous CommunitiescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with 24 indigenous territories including Ngäbe communities for environmental management, territorial planning, and cultural preservation initiatives such as the 'Catalogues of Dreams' project.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Inter-American Development Bank (IDB): IDB is the principal regional multilateral lender in Latin America with a large Costa Rica portfolio covering governance, climate, and social development; overlaps with PNUD's thematic priorities but operates at much greater financial scale and through lending rather than grants.
• World Bank Group: The World Bank is a much larger multilateral development institution operating in Costa Rica with far bigger financial envelopes (concessional lending and grants); overlaps with PNUD in governance, climate, and social inclusion themes, but is a broad incumbent rather than a niche-focused peer.
• USAID Costa Rica: USAID is a large bilateral development agency with significant Central America programming in governance, security, and inclusive economic growth — comparable to PNUD Costa Rica's Northern Zone peace-and-security work and broader governance portfolio.
• GIZ Costa Rica: GIZ is Germany's bilateral development agency executing technical cooperation and capacity-building programmes in Costa Rica — directly comparable to PNUD's technical cooperation mandate, governance work, and partnership-driven country-office delivery model.

Emerging players

• Oxfam International: Oxfam is a large international NGO working on inequality, gender, and indigenous rights in Latin America, partially overlapping with PNUD Costa Rica's segments (rural women, indigenous territories, governance reform) but operating as an NGO rather than a multilateral agency.

Direct peers

• ILO Costa Rica: ILO's Costa Rica presence delivers policy advisory and capacity building on labour rights and decent work, paralleling PNUD's governance-strengthening and inclusive-prosperity work with the same multilateral funding model and government counterpart engagement.
• UN Women Costa Rica: UN Women's Costa Rica presence mirrors PNUD's country-driven development model, working directly with national institutions on gender equality — a thematic area that overlaps with PNUD's gender-climate National Action Plan and women entrepreneurs programme.
• UNFPA Costa Rica: UNFPA's Costa Rica office shares the same multilateral structure, voluntary-contribution funding, and country-driven programme delivery model as PNUD, focusing on sexual/reproductive health, gender equality, and demographic data — overlapping thematically with PNUD's gender and governance work.
• FAO Costa Rica: FAO's Costa Rica office is a sister UN specialized agency delivering technical cooperation and capacity-building programmes in food security, rural development, and sustainable agriculture — directly comparable to PNUD's technical cooperation mandate and Brunca Region rural inclusion work.
• UNICEF Costa Rica: UNICEF Costa Rica is another UN country office operating in the same geography with a similar funding model (voluntary contributions), executing development and humanitarian programmes with national and municipal government counterparts. Direct functional peer to PNUD Costa Rica.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pnudcostarica

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about PNUD Costa Rica