Survey on International Support Measures specific to the

Survey on International Support Measures specific to the
Least Developed Countries (LDCs)
related to Multilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA)
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Summary Results
prepared by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)
and the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) Secretariat*
Table of Contents
A.
A. Budget Allocation to LDCs
Budget allocation to LDCs.......................... 1
B. LDC contributions to the organization’s
budget......................................................... 2
C.
Priorities in LDC-related assistance.............. 2
D.
LDC-specific modalities in ODA, Loans
and Grants.................................................. 2
E.
LDC-specific Technical Assistance
Trust Funds................................................. 2
F.
Graduated and graduating countries:
objectives and policies concerning
Cape Verde, the Maldives and Samoa.......... 3
G. Comments and suggestions.......................... 3
* This summary was prepared by the DESA/CDP Secretariat,
based on the survey response submitted by the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The content, findings, interpretations,
and conclusions as expressed in this summary reflect the
views of its authors, and do not necessarily represent the
views of the United Nations, or the organization responding to
the survey. The views presented in this document should not
be considered as the official position of UNICEF.
March 2012
Some international organizations have specific rules or
indicators to earmark the allocation of resources among
developing countries and, more specifically, take LDC status into consideration.
Organization response
UNICEF is a 100 per cent voluntarily funded organization, with resources coming from governments, from
the private sector, and from interest income and capital
gains originating from exchange rate variations.
UNICEF allocates its resources to countries based
on a system that was approved by its Executive Board
adopted in 1997 and modified in 2008. Thus, the Board
has set the allotment to LCDs of at least 60 per cent of
the organization’s regular resources, normally reserved
for programme assistance and support budget, while
attributing at least 50 per cent of those funds to SubSaharan African countries.
Regular resources for programming purposes are allocated to developing countries on the basis of three core
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criteria: under-five mortality rate, gross national income
per capita, and child population, with a minimum allocation of $750,000 for countries with per-capita income
lower than or equal to that of upper middle income
countries (World Bank Classification).
Two of the three criteria (under-five mortality rate and
per capita gross national income) are used to determine
allotment of regular resources to LDCs. The share of
LDCs from UNESCO’s regular resources to all countries amounted respectively to 66 per cent in 2010 and
to 65 per cent in 2011.
B. LDC contributions to the organization’s
budget
Some international organizations have special rules regarding LDC contributions to the organization’s regular
and other operational budgets.
D. LDC-specific modalities in ODA, Loans
and Grants
Aid modalities refer to the way in which aid is provided by
donors to partner governments. Donors have developed
a range of new modalities to complement traditional
types of aid projects, ranging from projects to sectoral
approaches and new aid approaches, such as General
Budget Support (GBS), to balance of payment support,
with a variety of arrangements for conditionality, earmarking and accountability.
Concessional loans are provided on more generous terms
than market loans. The concessionality is achieved either
through less than market interest rates or extended grace
periods, or a combination of both conditions. Some multilateral donors may have concessional schemes or grants
that are only available to LDCs.
Organization response
Organization response
UNICEF does not have special rules for LDC contributions to the organization’s budget.
C. Priorities in LDC-related assistance
Some organizations take into consideration LDC status in
their development assistance activities and extend special
assistance to these countries.
UNICEF does not apply aid modalities to LDCs that are
different from those granted to other developing countries. UNICEF is not a multilateral financial institution.
E. LDC-specific Technical Assistance
Trust Funds
Some international organizations have set up or administered technical assistance trust funds whose sole beneficiaries are LDCs.
Organization response
Organization response
LDC status per se is not taken into consideration in
allocating UNICEF’s assistance activities. Instead, the
organisation’s work is devoted to addressing the needs
of the most vulnerable and the most deprived children.
Countries with high levels of deprivations often include
LDCs. In addition, UNICEF, together with donors, solicit additional funding for programmes of cooperation
in favour of countries with high mortality, low GNI per
capita and large child populations.
UNICEF does not have any special funding reserved for
technical assistance to LDCs. The organization allocates
its resources and activities based on the three core criteria mentioned above.
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UNICEF does not have special funds aimed at facilitating the participation of LDCs in its meetings.
F. Graduated and graduating countries:
objectives and policies concerning Cape
Verde, the Maldives and Samoa
Cape Verde and the Maldives graduated from the list of
least developed countries in December 2007 and January
2011, respectively, and Samoa is scheduled to graduate from the list of LDCs in 1 January 2014. The General
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Assembly resolution 59/209 on the Smooth transition
strategy for countries graduating from the list of least developed countries invites bilateral and multilateral development and trading partners to cooperate and support
a smooth transition of countries graduating from the list
of LDCs. In particular, the resolution calls for the graduating countries, in cooperation with the development and
trading partners, to prepare a transition strategy to adjust
to the phasing out of the advantages associated with
LDC status, and recommends “that the graduating country
establish, in cooperation with its bilateral and multilateral
development and trading partners, a consultative mechanism
to facilitate the preparation of the transition strategy and the
identification of the associated actions”.
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See General Assembly Resolution 59/209, 28 February 2005.
Organization response
UNICEF does not offer LDC-specific support measures
to graduated and graduating LDCs. However, the organization has assisted the Government of the Maldives
in formulating a transition plan for its graduation
from the LDC category as part of the United Nations
Country Team. UNICEF is expected to play a similar
role in the case of Samoa. It noted that the graduation of
both countries from the LDC category will not change
the level of support earmarked for their activities within
the organization’s budget.
G. Comments and suggestions
UNICEF supports countries to address the needs of children through a range of strategies, including working
with governments and partners to provide essential services and ensure quality education, access to healthcare,
adequate nutrition, clean water and sanitation, and work
on the prevention and protection of children and adolescents from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.
In particular, programmes of cooperation developed
by UNICEF with national actors as well as an assured
presence and allocation of US $750,000 to all countries
until they reach High income status allows UNICEF
(jointly with national partners) to help monitor LDC
progress, and provide priority attention to LDCs.
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