Pooled financing for a reformed United Nations

Inter-agency pooled funds are a unique tool for the UN to deliver joint responses alongside national and international partners, and area a way to direct resources to programmes focused on SDG achievement. Both make pooled funds an important part of the current UN reform process. MPTF Office financing mechanisms enable UN leadership and Member States to create new multi-partner coalitions where national governments, civil societies, and the private sector actively work together in search of sustainable solutions.

Pooled financing, as an effective instrument for improving collaboration and reducing programmatic fragmentation, is a major tenet of the reform process across all pillars—including humanitarian, peace and security, and sustainable development. As the UN centre of expertise in pooled funding, our office works continuously to improve the quality of investment services for all partners, regardless of sector. 

In May 2018, the UN General Assembly resolution on repositioning the UN development system committed to reducing fragmentation and doubling inter-agency pooled funds to $3.4 billion US dollars a year by 2023. The United Nations Funding Compact, approved in 2019, contains a set of commitments between the UN and Member States to raise the quality of funding and delivery of development assistance. The compact includes specifics targets on inter-agency pooled funding where, for Member States, 10% of non-core resources are committed to development-related activities and channeled through inter-agency pooled funds.

As of today, more than 100 Member States have made significant contributions to pooled funds.

The UNSDG 15% target was established for development expenditures via joint activities—along with clear funding frameworks for cooperation and applying common management structures across pooled funds. Included in both are commitments to double the share of contributions to UN pooled funds by 2023 and raise the number of contributors overall, but to two MPTF Office flagship funds (the Joint SDG Fund and Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund) in particular.

Commitments on the UN side of the compact call for increased efficiency and effectiveness in the use of development-related inter-agency pooled funds. This can be achieved by instituting a series of common management features: critical performance indicators (e.g. clear theories of change), solid results-based management systems, well-functioning governance bodies, transparency, visibility, and evaluation arrangements.