The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers yesterday approved a voluntary contribution of two million euros to finance, during the 2023 fiscal year, the UN Resident Coordinator System, established four years ago by the United Nations to coordinate UN activities at the country level.
Since 2019, the UN has a UN Resident Coordinator System, which ensures the coordination of all UN organizations dealing with operational activities for development at the country level, regardless of their formal presence in the particular country.
The Resident Coordinator (RC) is the most senior representative of the United Nations Development System (UNDS) at the country level, with responsibility for leading UN Country Teams (UNCTs) and coordinating UN support to countries in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
The Resident Coordinator System is funded through the Special Purpose Trust Fund (SPTF), which relies on three funding streams: voluntary contributions from Member States, the doubling of amounts earmarked to finance the costs of UN entities belonging to the UNDS, and a 1% levy on contributions for UN development activities earmarked for a single agency, program or single project.’
SPTF funds cannot be earmarked for specific programs, but are key to the functioning of the UNDS. “The success of the reform and repositioning of the UNDS depends to a large extent on an adequately funded Resident Coordinator system, something Spain has been advocating for years in all international forums,” the Council of Ministers assured. The two million euros for the 2023 fiscal year is almost seven times the amount contributed by Spain in 2022 to this fund, which was 300,000 euros.