What does it really mean to scale what works?
The UN Global Pulse 2025 Annual Report, Scaling What Matters: Innovation for a Changing World, is our answer. Our new report is grounded in real projects, real partnerships and measurable impact, showcasing how innovation becomes a practical pathway to more effective delivery where it matters most.
This report captures a pivotal shift in how the United Nations delivers impact in an increasingly complex, polarized and resource-scarce world. As the UN marks its 80th anniversary and advances the UN 2.0 transformation agenda, it demonstrates how UN Global Pulse is helping move the system from isolated innovation pilots to scalable, system-wide solutions that work.
This moment has sharpened a shared understanding across the system, that transformation is no longer optional, with the launch of the UN80 initiative providing a concrete pathway to reshape how the UN works. By combining data, digital technologies, responsible AI and behavioral science, Global Pulse supports the UN family to deliver faster, smarter and more inclusive outcomes for those it serves.
In 2025, that support took many forms. Through DISHA, our multi-partner AI platform, responsible AI moved from concept to real-world impact, enabling humanitarian responders in the Philippines to identify urgent needs up to six times faster and reach communities affected by disasters, estimated to have affected approximately 5.6 million people.
In Indonesia, our Sea-Level Rise Project evolved into a nationally anchored policy process that convened 19 ministries and agencies. In Uganda, our DataCities initiative operationalized the National Data Strategy in Jinja and Fort Portal, shifting city-level decision-making toward evidence-based insights.
Through the UN Global Pulse Accelerator Programme, 22 teams across more than 25 UN organizations developed human-centered scaling strategies, moving beyond technical fixes toward solutions built for real-world adoption.
These are not pilots. They are blueprints, demonstrating that scaling what works is both possible and necessary.
Scaling what works does not happen in silos. It depends on sustained relationships, deep partnerships across the UN system, governments, academia and the private sector, as well as a willingness to innovate even in the most challenging environments.
UN Global Pulse calls on partners across the UN system, governments and the private sector to invest in innovation, strengthen collaboration and accelerate the adoption of proven solutions to meet this moment.
Explore the report, Scaling What Matters: Innovation for a Changing World, to learn how UN Global Pulse is helping build a United Nations that is fit for purpose in the 21st century and ready to deliver for people and planet, everywhere.
Discover the report!
