Fund Dates

• Start Date: 2 June 2017
• End Date:   31 December 2030

Joint Fund for Agenda 2030 Reports ( to be uploaded as they become due)

• Joint Fund Progress Report
• Joint Fund Annual Financial Report
• Joint Fund Certified Financial Statement (Sources and Uses of Funds)

Joint Fund for Agenda 2030 Main Documents

• Joint Fund Terms of Reference - ToR 18 February 2016
• Joint Fund Standard Administrative Arrangement - SAA
• Joint Fund Memorandum of Understanding - MoU

Overview

The Joint Fund for the 2030 Agenda (Joint Fund) is an inter-agency pooled fund. It is designed to provide catalytic support to UNCTs by allocating resources to participating UN organizations (PUNOs) undertaking national initiatives to unblock policy obstacles which in turn unlock SDG partnerships and financing, and help countries to achieve the SDGs. The Joint Fund aspires to demonstrate that integrated / coherent UN support can lead to:

• unblocking bottlenecks for national SDG achievement through integrated and coherent policies across the SDGs;
• governments establishing national budget provisions for scaling up integrated and coherent policy and sustainable national SDG partnerships and platforms;
• the development of financing vehicles which unlock sustainable SDG investments co-created with and financed by national and international partners.

Assistance

The Joint Fund provides UNCTs grants to identify and remove barriers to SDG achievement, supporting national development priorities reflected in the country’s UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), and promoting SDG investment opportunities. The Joint Fund is based on lessons learnt from other multi-agency pooled funds, especially the Delivering Results Together Fund (DRT-F), and provides UN expertise, in complex and multidimensional contexts, to remedy national SDG policy inconsistencies to ready countries for scalable investments. The Joint Fund encourages innovation and partner challenges which model new approaches to national policy formulation, implementation, and sustainability to attract SDG financing. The Joint Fund aims to provide a unifying policy landscape to attract longer term, public and private blended financing to generate social, environmental, and economic returns across the 17 SDGs.

Governance

At the global level the governance structure includes the Advisory Group, Joint Fund Board and the Secretariat, supported by the MPTF Office. 

The Advisory Group (AG) is chaired by the UNDG Chair or vice Chair and provides strategic advice and vision on key issues of relevance to the Joint Fund Board. Its global membership is comprised of two representatives of participating UN agencies, including the Chair of the Joint Fund Board, two representatives from contributing partners, two representatives from programme countries, and at least one representative from a leading international think tank, policy research centre, or key development partner organization.

 The Joint Fund Board has overall responsibility for the operations of the Joint Fund. It is responsible for decisions on eligibility, funding allocations, and other managerial and oversight aspects. The Joint Fund Board composition consists of 5 UN agencies at senior decision-making level. It may also include contributing and/or other selected partners.

Coordination and technical support for the Joint Fund will be the responsibility of the Joint Fund Secretariat. The Joint Fund Secretariat will be hosted in the United Nations Development Operations Coordination Office (UN-DOCO).

The Administrative Agent: Funding for the Joint Programme/Multi Partner Trust Fund utilizes a pass-through funding mechanism. Under this modality, Participating UN Organizations agree to channel funds for the Joint Programme through the Administrative Agent. The Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTF Office) of the UNDP serves as the Administrative Agent (AA) of the Joint Programme. The AA is responsible for concluding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Participating UN Organizations  and Standard Administrative Arrangements (SAAs) with donor(s), as well as for the receipt, administration, and management of contributions from donors; disbursement of funds to the Participating UN Organizations; and consolidation of financial reports produced by each of the Participating UN Organizations and Participating Non-UN Organizations and provision of these reports to the Steering Committee for onward submission to the donor(s).

 At the country level, management of Joint Fund resources is guided by the principles of national ownership in supporting national priorities, and is embedded in existing UNCT structures and processes. Funding alocations are based on the submission of Joint Programmes.  Participating UN Organizations submit proposals through the Resident Coordinator.

Decision-Making

Once the Board determines that the Fund has been sufficiently capitalized, it will award grants to support joint programmes through a two-phased competitive process, a proposal and the submission of a Joint Programme. RCs will inform the UNCT about the Fund’s call for proposals. RCs/UNCTs will have up to 2 months to submit a proposal to the Secretariat. Each proposal must outline the major thrust for integrated policy support initiatives, their longer-term intention to ready the country for scalable investment in the SDGs, intended partnerships, and anticipated budget. The Secretariat will have up to one month to review the proposal with any required multi-agency and technical review groups. The Secretariat will compile, assess, and package proposals for submission to the Board. Upon approval of the proposal, RC/UNCTs will be granted a period of up to three months to submit a full-fledged joint programme. The Secretariat and PUNOs will support the UNCT in the development of the joint programme, in line with the objectives of the Fund, the UNDAF, and the National Development Plan. All joint programmes will follow UNDG joint programme procedures and be forwarded to the Board for its final approval and associated fund disbursement along with any relevant assessment forms from the RC, technical review groups, if required, and the Secretariat. The Board will review each joint programme and take a decision to approve, approve with conditions, defer, return with comments for further consideration, or reject. The Fund Secretariat will prepare minutes and convey the decisions of the Joint Fund Board to the RCs and the Administrative Agent for action.