Analysis On The Multilateral Aid Funding Of The United Nations Development Programme

After the Millennium Development Goals,the United Nations has proposed the 2030 Agenda and 17 Sustainable Development Goals which serve as a blueprint for the world to achieve sustainable development in all areas.As a system in place for over 50 years in international development,the United Nations has played an irreplaceable role in calling for a more equal and sustainable world.However,in recent years,as the UN system and its agencies continued to expand,there are more and more doubts raised over the efficiency of the system and more multilateral donors are questioning if enough development results were achieved with multilateral aid and asked for more evidence of these results before unrestricted funding could be provided.As an organization that has worked in international development for over 50 years in 170 countries and regions,the United Nations Development Programme is a representative among multilateral organizations and development agencies.However,UNDP has been facing shrinking core resources with more and more tightly earmarked funding.Therefore,this thesis hopes to provide some insights as for why UNDP is facing such funding trends,what are some potential factors behind these trends,and what can be done to improve the situation.This research starts from an analysis on the overall trends of multilateral aid and the funding trends faced by UN agencies in the past ten years.The information will provide some insights on the funding trends faced by UNDP.In the meantime,this research will compile the funding data of UNDP in the past ten years and find some patterns of the funding that UNDP received,as well as whether these patterns resonated with the general funding trends of the whole UN system.The research will also provide information and explanation of the funding sources of UNDP.After examining the patterns of the multilateral aid received by UNDP,the research will go further to try to find the reasons behind these patterns.In the past several decades,multilateral aid has evolved through several different periods as it changed with the development of international relations.There are many research that analyzed the achievements and setbacks of the UN system in development work.This research intends to understand the meaning of providing multilateral aid to organizations such as UNDP from the perspective of donors,UNDP and the UN system,as well as the international society and external evaluations such as those of OECD,in an effort to understand the factors behind the development funding trends of todayThe reason why the perspectives of donors,multilateral agency and aid-receiving areas are chosen is because successful development results requires coordination from all three parties and all their respective demands being met,thus making them important for UNDP to find a solution to the funding situation today.After analyzing the potential factors behind the funding trends,some advice for UNDP to improve its funding situation will also be discussed accordingly.This research concludes that in order to change the funding situation,UNDP and donors need to work together.First of all,donors need to provide funding with a wholesome and whole-of-government approach that make sure the aid provided across government departments are coordinated with clear common goals.The current evaluation of multilaterals need to be more concise and avoid duplication of assessment processes or excessive bilateral assessment on one organization.There needs to be a coordinated division of labor between UN agencies to reduce duplication of work and organization function.UNDP needs to enhance its project monitoring and evaluation processes and collect and report project data in a complete and timely approach.UNDP also needs to provide more evidence-based results to showcase the achievements it made in development work.At the same time donors need to reduce the inefficiency caused by the unpredictability and fragmentation of funding,and make sure its funding truly aligns with the need of the areas that receive the development assistance.Efficient multilateral aid can only be achieved by close communication and coordinated efforts between donors and multilateral organizations.