Member States Announce Contributions at 2015 United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities

Commitments Represent Dramatic Decline over Previous Year

In support of United Nations development activities, primarily covering 2015, 16 countries pledged approximately $77 million today at a Headquarters event.  The amount represented a dramatic decline in comparison to pledges in 2014 of $560 million.

Opening the 2015 United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities, Navid Hanif, Director of Economic and Social Council Support and Coordination, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, stated that contributions for the Organization’s operational activities in 2014 had totalled $28.3 billion, which represented an increase of 7 per cent as compared to 2013.  That was attributed to a rise in non-core funding, mostly for humanitarian assistance activities, specifically for the Ebola crisis and humanitarian emergencies in Iraq and Syria.

Noting that 76 per cent of the contributions were in the form of non-core resources, he added that, while the long-term absolute funding trend for development activities had been favourable, with contributions more than doubling in real terms over the past 15 years, the funding environment remained challenging, as nearly all growth was in the form of non-core resources.

Further, developing countries had contributed $703 million to operational activities for development in 2014, excluding local resources, representing an increase of 26 per cent in real terms over the past three years, he continued.  However, the United Nations still remained heavily dependent on a limited number of contributors, despite efforts at broadening the contributor base.  Also, the majority of non-core resources were tightly earmarked by individual donors for specific projects.

Turning to the funding situation of the major funds and programmes, he added that total contributions to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2014 had amounted to $4.71 billion and those to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) amounted to $1 billion.  Total revenue flows to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) had increased from $4.85 billion in 2013 to $5.17 billion in 2014, representing an increase of 6.5 per cent.  The total income of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) in 2014 had amounted to $330 million.

Fodé Seck (Senegal), President of the 2015 Pledging Conference, commended countries for continuing to commit a significant amount of resources despite current financial challenges.  The Conference was a unique mechanism to ensure more predictable, flexible and sustainable funding for the Organization’s operational activities for development.  Pledges remained below current needs, especially with regard to core resource commitments.

Nick Hartmann, Director of the Partnerships Group, UNDP, said the important agreements that Member States had come to in 2015 called for increased policy support.  To deliver that, adequate and predictable resources were required.  Core resources were the foundation of his Programme’s support to the poorest and most vulnerable.  UNDP had responded to a range of crises over the past year and had ensured that 11.2 million people benefited from improved livelihoods.  Almost a million jobs were created in 77 countries, with half of those reaching women.

However, he said reduced contributions from many top partners and unfavourable exchange rate movements had caused a downward trend in funding.  Noting that a number of partners faced overwhelming pressures, including the migrant crisis, he thanked those who had submitted pledges today.

Antonie de Jong, Director of Resource Mobilization, UN-Women, speaking on behalf of the Entity’s Executive Director, said that 2015 had seen unprecedented strides for the gender equality agenda, with Member States agreeing that investing in girls and women was transformational for families, societies and economies.  Despite that consensus, UN-Women was experiencing a shortfall in resources, partly due to exchange rate losses.  Today’s commitments indicated that “we are on the right track”, he said, calling on countries that had not yet done so to “translate political will into increased financial contributions”.

Dominique Hyde, Deputy Director of Public Partnerships, UNICEF, said the universality of child rights and the Sustainable Development Goals represented “an unprecedented promise to every child and every young person”.  Noting that the world faced the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War, she thanked Governments that had increased or signalled a possible increase in regular resources, because a flexible core budget continued to be the bedrock for the Fund.

Klaus Simoni Pedersen, Chief of Resource Mobilization, UNFPA, said the Fund continued to strive for “a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled”.  Noting that the agency’s contribution revenue projection for 2015 was $400 million for core resources, representing a decrease of $77 million from 2014, he hoped that countries that were in a position to do so would maintain and if possible, increase their voluntary contributions on a multi-year basis, giving priority to core resources.

At the outset of the Conference, Mr. Seck (Senegal) was elected as its President and Odo Tevi (Vanuatu) as its Vice-President.

Delegates also adopted a draft report on the pledging conference (document A/CONF.208/2015/L.1).

Mr. Seck called attention to the Secretary-General’s report on the “Implementation of General Assembly resolution 67/226 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system” (document A/70/62-E/2015/4); a note by the Secretary-General on “Operational activities for development of the United Nations system” (document A/CONF.208/2015/1); and a note by the Secretary-General on “Contributions pledged or paid at the 2014 United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities for 2015, as at 30 June 2015” (document A/CONF.208/2015/2).

The representatives of Monaco, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, China and India said their countries would announce pledges separately.

Pledges Made for 2015-2016

(Converted from local currencies into United States dollars)