More than $1 Billion Pledged at Conference, as Member States Dramatically Increase Financial Commitments to Development Activities

At a United Nations pledging conference today, 24 countries committed to provide approximately $1.09 billion towards development activities.  The amount represented an increase of more than of fourteen-fold over those commitments made in 2015.

The event consisted of two conferences:  the United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities and the United Nations/Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Pledging Conference for the World Food Programme (WFP).

Opening the session, Zina Mounla, Chief of the Development Cooperation Policy Branch, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, highlighted the growing gap between core and non-core resources pledged by Member States.  In 2015, the share of core funding had dropped to 23.1 per cent, its lowest share ever.  That made it increasingly difficult for United Nations entities to implement their priorities.  The United Nations development system would need to receive adequate and predictable funding to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, she said.  Moreover, much of the non-core resources had been tightly earmarked to specific projects, which had resulted in fragmentation.

In 2015, the United Nations had continued to rely heavily on a few donors, with just two States accounting for 40 per cent of all Government contributions, and just six accounting for more than half of core funding.  The general trend in the quantity of funding had been positive, she said, with the volume of contributions more than doubling in real terms since 2000.

The Conference then elected Luke Daunivalu (Fiji) as President of the 2016 Pledging Conference by acclamation, and Inga Kanchaveli (Georgia) as Vice-President.

Mr. Daunivalu said that the ability of the United Nations to remain relevant and have the adequate capacity to deliver on its evolving multilateral mandates in a changed development landscape would depend heavily on the quality and quantity of funding it received.  At the 2015 Conference, pledges made by countries had declined compared to 2014.  “While I recognize that these are challenging times for many countries, I would like to strongly encourage countries to increase their pledges at this year’s Conference,” he said, particularly in core resource commitments.

Member States then made their pledges.  The representatives of Andorra and Armenia said their countries would announce pledges separately.

Concluding the Pledging Conference for Development Activities, Sumathi Jayaraman, Director of Innovation and Strategy, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said that it was committed to finding integrated approaches in implementing the 2030 Agenda.  UNDP looked forward to the new quadrennial comprehensive policy review and joint programming across the United Nations development system.  The Programme’s priority was to determine a new strategic plan going forward, but adequate and predictable resources were vital in achieving development plans and addressing the results of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review.  She also stressed the need to strengthen South-South cooperation, which presented a momentous opportunity to meet development goals.

Joelle Tanguy, Director of Strategic Partnerships, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), expressed gratitude for the pledges made.  Supporting women and girls to reach their potential was not a cost but a macroeconomic development opportunity, she said.  UN-Women’s achievements made it a vital vehicle for realizing the gender equality and women empowerment goals for humanity and therefore it was an entity deserving of significantly increased resources.  UN-Women was particularly grateful to have a wide donor base:  146 Governments had contributed to it in 2015, “a strong testament to the political will and the relevance of UN-Women’s mandate”, she said.

Mandeep O'Brien, Associate Director of the Public Partnership Division, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), stressed the importance of flexible funding at a time when the Organization had adopted a new development agenda.  The 2030 Agenda provided not only a historic opportunity that was Government-owned and led but also a programme for the people.  Partnerships were key, especially since the Agenda required working across sectors, goals and communities.  Flexible funding such as regular resources allowed for a global reach, reduced transaction costs and greater scope as they were not directed to specific programmes.  As such, offices could plan more strategically as well as respond quickly to humanitarian crises.

Mira Ihalainen, Resource Mobilization Adviser, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), expressed appreciation for the commitments and remarks made.  The tangible results achieved during the first two years of the Fund’s Strategic Plan 2014-2017 showed what it could accomplish with sufficient financing.  Nearly 53 million additional users accessed modern family planning methods; 23 million adolescents benefited from integrated sexual and reproductive health services; 23,579 fistula repairs were supported; 2,920 communities publicly declared abandonment of female genital mutilation; and more than 10.6 million women and girls in humanitarian crises benefited from sexual and reproductive health services and gender-based violence prevention services.  As of 1 November, UNFPA’s projection for regular resources, the bedrock of its institutional integrity, was $340 million, a decline of $58 million, or 15 per cent, over 2015.  That represented a $142 million shortfall against the 2016 Strategic Plan target of $482 million.

The Pledging Conference for WFP was then held.  No delegations made commitments at that time, though many had previously done so.

Speaking at the conclusion of the WFP Pledging Conference, Carla Mucavi, Director, Food and Agriculture Organization Liaison Office to the United Nations, said that the life-saving activities of WFP were central to the first response to crises and emergencies and part of the wider United Nations effort to support Member States.  FAO and WFP worked together in critical situations, and in the spirit of the 2030 Agenda, it was necessary to make efforts complementary, coordinated and coherent.  “The generous contributions you have offered today will allow WFP to…respond to food security related emergencies and provide direct humanitarian assistance in crisis situations,” she said.

Erika Joergensen, Director, World Food Programme Office in New York, said that in 2015, WFP provided direct assistance to 76.7 million of the world’s most vulnerable people in 81 countries.  WFP continued to tackle the drivers of hunger through innovative approaches such as local procurement and cash and voucher transfer mechanisms.  As of November 2016, the Programme had received $4.9 billion confirmed contributions towards its 2016 requirements of $8.6 billion, or 57 per cent of its management plan needs.  WFP continued to receive most of its contributions through Governments, and increasingly those were multi-year contributions, allowing the Programme to maximize effectiveness and adaptability.  However, multilateral contributions had slightly decreased in 2016.

Pledges Made

(Converted from local currencies into United States dollars)