OVER $440 MILLION PLEDGED FOR UN DEVELOPMENT FUNDS AND PROGRAMMES AT TWO-DAY CONFERENCE
Press Release
DEV/2126
GA/9157
OVER $440 MILLION PLEDGED FOR UN DEVELOPMENT FUNDS AND PROGRAMMES AT TWO-DAY CONFERENCE
19961105 More than $440 million in real or anticipated contributions were pledged for development activities of the United Nations system at the two-day pledging conference which concluded this morning.A total of 73 countries and observers addressed the event, with 52 announcing pledges and an additional eight making provisional pledges for the Organization's funds and programmes during the 1996 United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities.
Including estimates of pledges yet to be announced, a total of $282 million was pledged to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and approximately $62.9 million for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Pledges worth approximately $90 million were received by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and approximately $5.02 million was pledged to other United Nations trust funds and programmes. (Pledges made today appear later in this press release; yesterday's pledges are contained in Press Release DEV/2123-GA/9153.)
In concluding remarks, the Associate Administrator of the UNDP, Rafeeuddin Ahmed, said that as a group, the associated funds and programmes of the UNDP would receive an estimated $55 million next year from the announced contributions. Leading the group was the United Nations Capital Development Fund which was expected to receive about $35 million. That Fund provided grants for poverty-reduction programmes in the least developed countries, particularly the rural poor.
The Director of the Programme Funding Office of UNICEF, Anthony Kennedy, said the Fund and its partners were increasingly using the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a framework for country programme activities. The UNICEF was developing a "right-based" approach to problems such as sexual exploitation of children, children caught in armed conflicts and hazardous and exploitative labour. It looked forward to working with governments, United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and other partners in implementing that innovative approach.
The Executive Director of the UNFPA, Dr. Nafis Sadik, thanked several governments for having increased significantly their contributions, including Denmark, which substantially increased its 1996 contribution by more than 40 per cent, to about $47 million, making it the second largest contributor to THE UNFPA after the Government of Japan which maintained its position as the top donor.
The International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) was severely constrained by its modest budget, the Institute's Director, Marta Duenas Loza said. She emphasized that changes in performance and programming had been implemented to modernize and rationalize the institution; however, those could continue only with institutional and financial support from Member States.
Out of the 32 Member States that spoke this morning, pledges were made by the representatives of Colombia, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Czech Republic, Romania, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Ghana, Russian Federation, Brazil, Panama, Namibia, Yemen, Sudan, Egypt, Slovenia, Malawi, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Oman, Greece, Libya, Vanuatu and Lesotho. The representative of Malaysia made a provisional pledge, subject to approval by his parliament, and the representative of Tunisia made additions to his country's pledge made yesterday.
The representatives of Uganda, Sweden, Guyana, Pakistan, Andorra and Mali declared their countries' intent to contribute at a later date. A statement was also made by the representative of Latvia.
Twenty-nine pledges and six provisional pledges had been made by Member States yesterday. A pledge and a provisional pledge had also been received by the observers for the Holy See and Switzerland, respectively.
Also, this morning, the Conference adopted its report for the two-day meeting.
Officers of the pledging conference were Jean-Louis Wolzfeld (Luxembourg), President, and Julio Armando Martini Herrera (Guatemala), Vice-President.
Concluding Statements
RAFEEUDDIN AHMED, Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said that the preliminary estimates of the Programme's funding situation for 1996 pointed at a total income in the order of $2.1 billion, core and non-core resources. Based on the pledges announced yesterday and today, and taking into account estimates of others yet to be announced, the 1997 contributions to the central resources of the UNDP should
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be above the 1996 level of about $850 million. The UNDP Executive Board had acknowledged that a core programme of $3.3 billion would be required for the next three-year programming period beginning in 1997. There was no way to achieve that target with the level of contributions now foreseen for 1997. The UNDP had over the past five years witnessed a downward trend in contribution to its core programmes that followed global reduction in official development assistance.
He also said that as a group, the associated funds and programmes of the UNDP would receive an estimated $55 million next year from the announced contributions. Leading the group was the United Nations Capital Development Fund which expected to receive about $35 million. That Fund provided grants for poverty-reduction programmes in the least developed countries, particularly the rural poor. The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) was likely to receive about $12 million; the United Nations Volunteer programme expected to receive $5 million in core resources; and the United Nations Revolving Fund for Natural Resources Exploration would receive $2 million.
He said that the core programme was at the heart of the organization's identity and it made the UNDP an honest broker between the North and the South. It allowed for flexibility, for timely and innovative approaches to tackle problems of the world's poor. With 87 per cent of its core programme allocated to the low-income countries, "our core fund is our poverty fund", he said.
He thanked the following countries for the substantial increases in their contributions: Bulgaria, Ethiopia, India, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Portugal, Morocco, New Zealand, Romania, Republic of Korea, Singapore, United States and Viet Nam. He also thanked the following major donors who announced they would be able to maintain their sizeable contributions to the UNDP: Belgium, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. In addition, he thanked India, China, Cuba, Indonesia, Mexico, Republic of Korea and Saudi Arabia for contributing more than $1 million.
He said the UNDP had launched a variety of administrative, programming and other reforms and consequently felt it was in a better position than ever to meet the new needs of its member countries. The UNDP could not hope to succeed without the close collaboration of its United Nations partners, including the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Food Programme (WFP). Their missions and strengths were complementary. He believed that collectively the United Nations had a record in development assistance that was second to none.
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ANTHONY KENNEDY, Director of the Programme Funding Office of UNICEF, said the pledges for the agency made at the Conference totalled $62.9 million, representing some 17 per cent of the $362 million projected by UNICEF for government contribution to its general resources in 1997. Preliminary estimates of the Fund's income for 1996 indicated that funding would be slightly lower than the $1 billion level of the past two years. General resources were necessary for the overall operation of UNICEF and provided it with the flexibility in developing and applying innovative approaches in its programmes. While the overall fund-raising climate remained serious, there had been some encouraging recent developments.
He welcomed the return of Cyprus, India, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Peru, Republic of Korea and Singapore as donors to UNICEF, and the increases announced by Austria, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Morocco and Romania.
The Fund and its partners were increasingly using the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a framework for country programme activities. The UNICEF was developing a "right-based" approach to problems such as sexual exploitation of children, children caught in armed conflicts and hazardous and exploitative labour. It looked forward to working with governments, United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and other partners in implementing that innovative approach. The UNICEF was mobilizing resources from an expanding range of partners, including official donors, non- governmental organizations and the general public. In 1995, it had derived some 30 per cent of its income from the private sector and in a few countries, the contributions surpassed those of the government.
On 11 December, UNICEF would mark the fiftieth anniversary of its founding, he said. It had seen outstanding progress on behalf of children in that period, although it had yet to reach its ultimate goal of helping governments to ensure the rights of all children to survival, protection and development. In the past 18 months UNICEF had improved the way it worked. It had reviewed its systems for finance, procurement and supply, and information technology. Its greeting card operations were being reviewed to make them as cost-efficient and productive as possible. It had also reviewed its human resources policies and procedures to ensure that the right staff members were assigned to the right jobs. A mission statement and a set of guiding principles for staff had been adopted.
Dr. NAFIS SADIK, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said pledges to the Fund during the Conference totalled approximately $90 million. The Fund's resources for 1997 were projected to range between $320 million and $350 million. In 1995, the contributions had increased significantly by 18 per cent over the previous years, while those of 1996 rose by about 2.7 per cent or more than $300 million. She thanked the following Governments for increasing their contributions: Bulgaria,
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36 per cent; Egypt, 16.8 per cent; Malawi, 148 per cent; Republic of Korea, 5 per cent; Lesotho, 10 per cent; Luxembourg, 25 per cent; Morocco, 33 per cent; Netherlands, 3 per cent; Portugal, 60 per cent; Romania, 25 per cent; Slovenia, 64 per cent; Sri Lanka, 50 per cent; Thailand, 14 per cent and Yemen, 35 per cent.
She thanked the Government of Denmark which substantially increased its 1996 contribution by more than 40 per cent to approximately 275 million Danish kroner (or about $47 million) making it the second largest contributor to UNFPA after the Government of Japan which maintained its position as the top donor. She also thanked the Governments of the Netherlands, Australia, Finland, France, Italy, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United Kingdom for increasing their contributions in 1996. She hoped the United States, which reduced its population assistance globally by some $200 million and to the Fund by $13 million or 38 per cent, would soon be able to re-establish its leadership role. Cyprus, Mauritania, Peru, Libya, Seychelles and Vanuatu had returned to the family of donors to the UNFPA, she said.
MARTA DUENAS LOZA, Director of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), called the Pledging Conference one of the briefest but most important United Nations meetings, and thanked Member States for their contributions to the Institute.
She said that for two years she had directed INSTRAW under poor financial and institutional conditions. Changes in performance and programming had been implemented to modernize and rationalize the institution, but those could continue only with institutional and financial support from Member States. Every dollar invested in research directed towards improving the status of women was multiplied in its effect.
Women's inequality and underdevelopment needed to be addressed through research, she continued. Also, the training of women was indispensable to improving women's possibilities. Despite the importance of the Institute's work, it was severely constrained by its modest budget. It was therefore necessary to consider what amount would be required in order to respond to the demands of Member States as well as the recommendations made at the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995.
JEAN-LOUIS WOLZFELD (Luxembourg), President of the Conference, said the total amount pledged was not enough due to budgetary problems of States, adding that a way should be found to overcome them. He commended governments which made pledges and appealed to those who did not to mobilize resources to help developing countries.
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Pledges Made
Bangladesh
UNDP $300,000 UNDP Local Office 1,100,000 taka UNICEF $30,000 UNFPA $25,000 UNIFEM $1,000 UN Habitat $2,500 UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control $1,000 UN Capital Development Fund $5,000 UN Fund for Science and Technology for Development $2,600 UN Volunteers $1,250 UN Trust Fund for International Year of Disabled Persons $1,000 UNIDO $2,420 UNEP $2,550
Brazil
UNDP $400,000 UNICEF $300,000 UNFPA $15,000 UNIFEM $25,000 UN Habitat $20,000 UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control $15,000 UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture $10,000 UNEP $20,000 UN Fund for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice$15,000
Colombia
UNDP $450,000 UNDP Local Office $200 UNICEF $450,000 UNFPA $40,000 Training Institute for Advancement of Women $550 UN Habitat $12,000 UN Trust Fund for International Year of Disabled Persons $550 UN Trust Fund for Ageing $550 UN Trust Fund for Environment $35,000
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Czech Republic
UNDP 8,000,000 koruny UNICEF 4,000,000 " UNFPA 2,000,000 " UN Habitat 2,000,000 " UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control $13,000 UNITAR 500,000 koruny UNEP 3,000,000 "
Egypt
UNDP 598,310 pounds + 25% of operating costs of Cairo Office UNICEF 130,000 " UNFPA 350,000 " UNIFEM 2,000 " UN Habitat 20,000 " UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control 1,000 " UNITAR $6,000 UN Trust Fund for African Development 100,000 pounds UN Volunteers $3,000
Ghana
UNDP $40,000 UNICEF $5,000 UNFPA $5,000 UNIFEM $5,000 UN Habitat $5,000 UNITAR $5,000 Account for Financing Plan of Action to Combat Desertification $5,000 UNHCR $5,000 UNEP $5,000
Greece
UNDP 70,000,000 drachmas UNICEF $200,000 Training Institute for Advancement of Women $4,000 UNIFEM $3,600 UN Habitat $16,000 UN Capital Development Fund $10,000 UNITAR $6,000 Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations $6,000
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Greece (cont.)
UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute $15,000 UN Youth Fund $3,000 UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture $10,300 UN Educational and Training Programme for Southern Africa $9,000
Lao People's Democratic Republic
UNDP $21,168 UNICEF $5,000 UNFPA $1,000 UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control $1,000 UN Capital Development Fund $1,500 UNEP $2,000
Lebanon
UNDP $15,000 UNICEF $8,000 UNFPA $3,000 UNIFEM $3,000 UN Habitat $3,000 UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control $7,000 UN Volunteers $3,000 UNHCR $3,000 UNEP $3,000 WFP $3,000 ESCWA $5,000
Lesotho
UNDP $3,960 " 105,655 maloti UNDP local offices 360,000 " UNICEF 8,800 " UNFPA 4,696 " UNIFEM 3,685 " UN Habitat 6,710 " UN Capital Development Fund 4,231 " UN Fund for Science and Technology for Development 3,354 " UN Volunteers 4,231 " Account for Financing Plan of Action to Combat Desertification 2,200 "
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Lesotho (cont.)
UNEP 7,115 " UN Educational and Training Programme for Southern Africa 4,400 " Economic Cooperation among Developing Countries 8,800 "
Libya
UNDP $90,000 UNFPA $10,000
Malawi
UNDP 180,000 kwacha UNICEF 60,000 " UNFPA 98,625 " UN Capital Development Fund 60,000 "
Malaysia
UNDP $385,000 UNICEF $84,000 UNFPA $15,000 UN Capital Development Fund $20,000
Namibia
UNDP $500 UNFPA $500 UNIFEM $500 UN Trust Fund for African Development $500 Account for Financing Plan of Action to Combat Desertification $500
Oman
UNICEF $50,000 UNEP $10,000
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Pakistan
UNDP 20,200,000 rupees " Assessed Programme Cost 4,200,000 " UNICEF 5,000,000 " UNFPA $500,000 Training Institue for Advancement of Women 62,000 rupees UNIFEM 125,000 " UN Fund for Science and Technology for Development900,000 " UNITAR 525,000 "
Panama
UNDP $648,300 UN Fund for Science and Technology for Development$4,000 UN Volunteers $500 UNEP $4,000
Romania
UNDP 154,050,000 lei UNICEF 10,516,875 " UNFPA 5,184,375 " UN Habitat 2,221,875 " UN Fund for Industrial Development 7,702,500 " UN Drug Control Programme 2,221,875 " UN Fund for Science and Technology for Development2,962,500 " UNEP 5,136,875 " UN Information Centre in Bucharest 123,474,000 "
Russian Federation
UNICEF $500,000 UNFPA $150,000
Slovenia
UNDP 350,000 S dollars UNICEF 500,000 " UNFPA 150,000 " UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control 100,000 " UNITAR 80,000 " UN Trust Fund for International Year of Disabled Persons 80,000 " UN Fund for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice 105,000 "
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Sri Lanka
UNDP $1,034,640
Sudan
UNDP 5,000,000 pounds
Tunisia
UNICEF 36,000 dinars
United Arab Emirates
UNDP $300,000 UNICEF $100,000
Vanuatu
UNDP $5,000 UNFPA $5,000 UN Habitat $500 UNEP $685
Yemen
UNDP $40,000 UNICEF $16,730 UNFPA $3,847 UNIFEM $2,676 UN Habitat $575 UN Capital Development Fund $3,585 UN Fund for Science and Technology for Development$1,000 UNITAR $2,000 UN Volunteers $2,160 WFP $3,847 UNIDO $2,000 UNHCR $2,160 Special Fund for Science and Technology $2,000 International Institute for Statistics $2,500
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