UN reform for the MDGs gets a $290 million boost

New York: Spain, Norway and the United Kingdom announced a commitment today of at least $290 million over the next two years as part of a new multi-donor funding mechanism to improve United Nations work in development at the country level.

“Spain is firmly committed to a United Nations system that works more efficiently for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” said H.E. Prime Minister of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

“With this new expanded Delivering as One funding window, we are addressing the need for additional financing, while contributing to improve the predictability of aid flows. This funding will help support collaborative and joint UN activities and programmes to take better advantage of the diverse strengths within the UN system to support developing countries in addressing the complex challenges facing them.”

The commitments announced today, which are expected to reach $400million with contributions from other interested donors, will further improve predictability in funding for developing countries and UN country teams alike. It will increase total resources available for the UN’s work in education, agricultural development, culture, combating climate change, creating greater opportunities for women, and meeting the needs of children and young people. UN agencies working better together will help ensure that UN-managed aid will reach the people who need it most, and increase the impact of funding for the MDGs.

This expanded window of funding is an extension and builds on the success of the existing Government of Spain’s $710 million MDG Achievement Fund (MDG-F), launched in December 2006. The Fund, managed by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and available to all UN agencies, was set-up to accelerate progress to reach the MDGs, while supporting innovative attempts by the UN to work better on the ground.  The MDG-F has approved over $300 million in joint programmes to-date to 45 of 59 eligible countries, involving 24 UN agencies.

"A more effective and responsive UN needs better financing from donors and we as donors need to be more effective,” said H.E. Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway. “We must support a more coherent UN at country level. I believe this initiative represents a major improvement in the way the UN secures predictable and untied resources.  I am therefore pleased to announce that Norway will contribute 40 million dollars to the delivering as one multi-donor facility in 2009 and 2010."

Also commenting the launch were H.E. Álvaro Colom, President of Guatemala; H.E. Armando Emilio Guebuza, President of the Republic of Mozambique; H.E. Douglas Alexander, UK Secretary of State for International Development; Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO; and Kemal Derviş, UNDP Administrator and Chair of the UN Development Group.

“The UK is a strong supporter across the UN Development System and we want to put additional resources where they will have the most impact on the MDGs,” said Mr. Alexander, UK Secretary of State for International Development.  “We believe, and there is now growing evidence, that where the UN works as one to support country-led options it delivers more effectively. By coming together with Spain’s innovative MDG Fund, the UK is showing its commitment that where the UN reforms are taking place we will channel more development assistance through it.”

“By creating a more efficient system that is better able to respond to the serious environmental, economic and social development challenges we face, we get closer to ensuring our work benefits those who need it most,” added Kemal Derviş.  “To these individuals, this initiative is about access to clean water and education for their children, and this new funding window will help us work together towards these goals." 

In addition to supporting the UN to “Deliver as One” Spain has also been providing support through its MDG Achievement Fund for joint programmes in gender, climate change, economic governance and conflict prevention and peace building. Since the Fund was launched in 2006, Guatemala for example has received over $22.4 million in joint programme funding. H.E. President Colom praised Spain not only for its significant contribution, but also for the fact that it was channeled through the United Nations, complementing Spain's considerable bilateral cooperation. 

“The support Guatemala has received from the MDG-Fund so far has been consistent with our own strategic priorities,” said President Colom. “Guatemala has worked in close cooperation with UN agencies and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI) to identify strategic projects to be supported by the fund.”

The Delivering as One approach has delivered some important results elsewhere too, including Mozambique one of eight countries piloting efforts to deliver as one.

"This expanded delivering as one window to be opened to other donors under the MDG Achievement Fund will draw on the tested experience that the budget support mechanism has accumulated,” said President Armando Emilio Guebuza. “It is fortunate that Spain, Norway and the United Kingdom are members of the Group of 19 development partners in direct budget support and so they can bring their experience to enrich our discussion today."

For more information or to set up interviews, please contact:
Michael Coleman, UNDP Communications michael.coleman@undp.org , + 1 212 906 5377 or Jose M. Caballero, Press Counsellor, Mission of Spain to the UN, jmcaballero@spainun.org +1 212 661 1050 Ext: 317

About the MDG Achievement Fund:
The Fund operates through the UN development system and finance, typically, collaborative UN activities that leverage the clear value-added of the UN in the sector and country concerned, particularly where the UN’s collective strength is harnessed in order to address multi-dimensional development challenges.

The MDG-F intervenes in a number of thematic areas, including democratic governance, gender equality and women’s empowerment, basic social services, economic and private sector development, environment and climate change, culture and development and conflict prevention and peace building.

For more please visit: http://www.undp.org/mdgf/

About the new expanded, multi-donor ‘Delivering as One’ Funding Window:
The move towards improving the effectiveness and impact of the development work of the United Nations has been growing in momentum over the past decade. Since the beginning of 2007, efforts to improve efficiency, coherence and effectiveness of the UN development system have received fresh impetus following the adoption of the ‘Delivering as One’ approach in eight self-selecting ‘pilot’ developing countries[1]. This involves the country deciding to adopt a ‘Delivering as one programme’, focused on and aligned with, national priorities; One Leader of an empowered UN country team; One Budgetary Framework to fund the Delivering as one programme, and, where appropriate, One Office- common services and other ways to reduce transaction costs.

The MDG-Fs ‘Delivering as one’ Window has already made a significant contribution towards addressing the funding gaps in the ‘Delivering as one Programme’ through the adoption of an efficient approach ensuring national and local ownership. Against this background and in order to enhance predictability and provide additional resources, a number of donors led by Spain, Norway and the UK have committed to expand the Government of Spain’s ‘Delivering as one’ Funding window into a multi donor facility for supporting the UN to ‘Deliver as One’, and to encourage other donors to join them in providing better funding for a reforming UN at a country level.