• Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
• Standard Administrative Arrangement (SAA)

Overview

In January 2007, Rwanda was selected as one of eight pilot countries for the UN reform process known as Delivering as One (DaO). The objective of this One UN pilot was to enable the UN System to provide a more effective and coherent response to the needs of the Government of Rwanda and its Development Partners.

In line with the Standard Operating Procedures for the DaO, the One UN in Rwanda is based on the five pillars: One Programme, One Budgetary Framework, One Leader, Operating as One, and Communicating as One. The One Budgetary Framework is a total estimated amount of resources (both regular and other) needed to implement the UN Development Assistance Plan (UNDAP) 2013-2018 for Rwanda. The Rwanda One UN Fund has been established to mobilize and allocate additional resources at the country level in a simplified, coherent manner consistent with the overall purpose of the DaO and the UNDAP.

This arrangement in Rwanda is subscribed to by all members of the UN Country Team (UNCT). The UNCT in Rwanda adopted a Code of Conduct committing themselves to the key principles for implementation of the UNDAP and the success of One UN.

The DaO in Rwanda is being implemented in a collaborative manner under the strong leadership of the Government of Rwanda. Furthermore, under the management and leadership of the Resident Coordinator, the UNCT works together to mobilize resources to cover the funding gaps in the UNDAP.

The Rwanda One UN Fund is administered by the Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTF Office) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in accordance with its financial regulations and rules.

Assistance Strategy

The objective of the Rwanda One UN Fund is to support the coherent resource mobilization, allocation and disbursement of development partner resources for the implementation of the UNDAP under the direction of the UN Resident Coordinator as leader of the UN Country Team in Rwanda.

The Rwanda One UN Fund has been established as a vehicle to pool new resources provided by development partners to support the unfunded portions of the UNDAP.  The UNDAP embodies the One Programme principle and is funded through a combination of existing core and non-core resources of participating organizations and the Rwanda One UN Fund. The strong preference for the financing of the unfunded portion of the UNDAP is for resources to be allocated to the Rwanda One UN Fund.

The Rwanda One UN Fund, under the guidance of the One UN Steering Committee and under the leadership of the Resident Coordinator and UNCT, is intended to facilitate the realization of the UNDAP outcomes by strengthening the planning and coordination process, based on number of One UN flagship programmes, and channelling funds towards the highest priority needs.

The Rwanda One UN Fund will support partnership and communication between all stakeholders involved with Rwanda's development led by the Government of Rwanda. Information given to the media, to the beneficiaries of the One UN programme, all related promotion material, official notices, reports and publications, shall acknowledge the role of Government of Rwanda, the UN and the development partners.

Governance

One UN Steering Committee
The One UN Steering Committee in Rwanda guides and decides on the overall strategic orientation of the entire One UN - Delivering as One Initiative in Rwanda. The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning is the chair of the Steering Committee and it is comprised of four members of the Government of Rwanda, the UN Resident Coordinator, four members of the UNCT and three development partners. The Administrative Agent participates in the Steering Committee as observer.

UN Resident Coordinator
The overall management of the Rwanda One UN Fund is led and coordinated by the Resident Coordinator in consultation with the Participating UN Organizations. In line with the overall objective of the One UN in Rwanda to deliver more effectively at the country level and the UNCT Code of Conduct, the Resident Coordinator will be responsible for: strategic leadership of the One UN Fund on the basis of the UNDAP; mobilizing resources for the One UN Fund in collaboration with Participating UN Organizations; signing the Standard Administrative Arrangements (together with the Administrative Agent) with Development Partners and the Memorandum of Understanding with Participating UN Organizations; approving allocation of funds from the Rwanda One UN Fund based on priorities identified within the UNDAP and endorsed by the overall guidance of the Steering Committee, as well as the allocation principles outlined in the UNDAP; and chairing the UN Country Team including making ultimate decisions on fund allocations.

Support services provided by the Resident Coordinator's Office
The Office of the Resident Coordinator is responsible for support to the strategic leadership role of the Resident Coordinator for the One UN Fund. It provides support in all the designated tasks for the Resident Coordinator and drawing on the narrative reports provided by each of the UNDAP Development Results Groups (DRGs), the Office of the Resident Coordinator makes recommendations to the UNCT. The Office of the Resident Coordinator provides strategic focus including analysis of progress and lessons to be learned for future programme implementation. It circulates the finalized annual consolidated report on the Rwanda One UN Fund to the One UN Steering Committee for consultation. The Office of the Resident Coordinator supports the consolidation of the narrative reports provided by the DRGs, and provides support to the UN Policy Advisors and the DRGs to prepare and report on consultations with stakeholders regarding the One UN Programme and Rwanda One UN Fund.

The UN Country Team/Allocation Committee
The UN Country Team is responsible for allocation decisions of the Rwanda One UN Fund under the leadership of the UN Resident Coordinator. The UN Country Team is responsible for developing a joint resource mobilization strategy, for approving prioritization of allocation of funds from the Rwanda One UN Fund, and for providing oversight of the management and operations of the Rwanda One UN Fund. The prioritization will be guided by recommendations from the UNDAP Annual Reviews, recommendations by the UNDAP DRGs, and the overall strategic orientation provided by the One UN Steering Committee. In this process, the Resident Coordinator and the UNCT can seek inputs from the M&E Group and the UNDAP DRGs. Decisions of the UNCT are made by consensus. In the event that no consensus is reached, the Resident Coordinator can make ultimate decisions on fund allocation (with documented process and rationale for these decisions).

The UNDAP DRGs
The UNDAP Theme Groups are responsible for allocation of the coordination and implementation of the One UN flagship programmes within each UNDAP Results Area.

The Administrative Agent
The UNDP MPTF Office has been appointed the Administrative Agent of the Rwanda One UN Fund. Its responsibilities include to provide the delegated signature authority to the UNDP Country Director for the Signature (as Administrative Agent) of Standard Administrative Arrangements with Development Partners and Memorandum of Understanding with Participating UN Organizations; to receive, administration and management of contributions from Development Partners; disbursement of such funds to the Participating UN Organizations in accordance with the approved Annual Work Plans/Programmatic Documents; to provide consolidated narrative and financial reports, in accordance with the MOU, on the Rwanda One UN Fund Account to the Resident Coordinator based on reports of the Participating UN Organizations.