Overview

The Expanded Delivering as One Funding Window for Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (EFW) was launched by the Chair of the UN Development Group and the Governments of Spain, Norway and the United Kingdom in September 2008 as a multi-donor funding mechanism that provides resources to support nationally-led and owned programming processes to help UN Country Teams to Deliver as One.

Specifically, the EFW is designed to:

• Respond to the need for additional, un-earmarked, more predictable funding;
• Provide a channel for additional resources to fill funding gaps for UN country programmes;
• Allow donors to support integrated UN Programmes in countries where they may not have a bilateral presence or country-level funding mechanisms; and
• Reduce the transaction costs associated with the separate and multiple financing agreements required to manage earmarked resources.

The Operational Document for the Expanded Delivering as One Funding Window is a framework document that articulates the principles of the funding window, processes and procedures to be followed, and roles and responsibilities of the various actors within the agreed governance mechanism, whereas the EFW Guidance Note for Country Teams provides details on eligibility, application and allocation processes and procedures.

The EFW Steering Committee provides overall leadership, strategic direction and decision-making, including the allocation of EFW resources. Governed by its Terms of Reference, the EFW Steering Committee is directed by the Vice Chair of the UNDG, and is comprised of director-level officials from all UN organizations that are members of the UNDG Advisory Group. The Steering Committee has overall responsibility for the EFW and sets its strategic direction.

The EFW Secretariat is led by the Director of the UN Development Operations Coordination Office (UN DOCO), who ensures the policies and strategies decided by the EFW Steering Committee are implemented and is the first point of contact for UN Country Teams. The EFW Steering Committee has designated the United Nations Development Programme’s Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTF Office) to be the EFW Fund Manager with responsibilities for receipt and management of contributions from donors, and transfers of such funds to DaO/One UN Fund Administrative Agents in accordance with the approved EFW Steering Committee allocations.

Eligibility / Assistance Strategy

The following General Provisions regarding EFW eligibility are extracted from the EFW Guidance Note for Country Teams.

The EFW is one of several sources of funding to support ‘integrated UN Programme’ through the ‘Country Fund’ and will support only a part of the funding gap. In the first instance, UNCTs should mobilize un-earmarked resources at the country level for the ‘Country Fund’. After other sources of funding have been explored, and if there is still a gap remaining, a request to the funding window would be accepted.

Countries will be considered eligible if they meet the criteria outlined in the UNDG approved Operational Document as elaborated upon in this Guidance Note. One of the main criteria for funding is that countries should already have an ‘integrated UN Programme’. This means that countries should have prepared:

• an UNDAF and
• implementation plan/UNDAF Action Plan.

The eligible countries in 2009 and 2010 will be those that already have an ‘integrated UN Programme’ ready for implementation. Consequently, the following groups of countries would be considered eligible for funding in 2009 and 2010:

• Delivering as One (DAO) pilot countries;
• countries that prepared an ‘integrated UN Programme’, following the DAO approach, which is already being implemented, or will start implementation in 2009 or 2010

From 2011, the UNDAF roll out countries in 2009 would be considered eligible provided they meet the criteria noted below. From the perspective of reducing transaction costs for governments, donors and the UN organizations, the development of a coherent ‘integrated UN Programme’ should start with the UNDAF cycle. Thus, countries are not encouraged to adopt DAO approach in the middle of the UNDAF cycle.

Countries eligible under very exceptional circumstances. A lesson from the pilot country experience has been that the preparation of an ‘integrated UN Programme’ in the middle of the programming cycle is extremely burdensome. Therefore, this funding window will not encourage such activity in countries which are in the middle of UNDAF cycle. However, there may be a very limited number of exceptional cases (e.g. post-crisis) in which a country and UNCT decide that a new programmatic direction is needed, yet no new UNDAF should be developed.

Such exceptional cases will be defined by significant changes in country situations leading to the development of ‘new’ national development strategies and requiring a significant change in the response of ‘integrated UN Programme’, but there is no new UNDAF process. Should countries under such circumstances develop an ‘integrated UN Programme’ and decide to follow the ‘delivering as one’ approach, they would need to be recommended by the RDTs as being eligible countries to be further considered by the Steering Committee for the Expanded DAO Funding Window. Such exceptional circumstances should subsequently be outlined in the Concept Note as well.

The Regional Directors Teams (RDTs) will exercise their regular oversight role, through the Quality Support and Assurance function, with regard to UNDAF and implementation plan/UNDAF Action Plan. For 2009 and 2010, RDTs will also be requested to advise the Steering Committee of countries in their region that meet the eligibility criteria, as elaborated upon below, i.e. the countries that have prepared an ‘integrated UN Programme’, following the DAO approach, which is already being implemented or will start implementation in 2009 and 2010. Countries that would be eligible under the ‘very exceptional circumstances’ criterion should also be recommended by the RDTs.

Additional information on eligibility criteria and country-level actions to meet the EFW-criteria are included in the EFW Guidance Note for Country Teams.

Governance

Steering Committee
The EFW Steering Committee provides overall leadership, strategic direction and decision-making, including the allocation of EFW resources. Governed by its Terms of Reference, the EFW Steering Committee is directed by the Vice Chair of the UNDG, and is comprised of director-level officials from all UN organizations that are members of the UNDG Advisory Group. Additional information on the Steering Committee, including notes for the record and background documents, is available here.

Consultative Group
The EFW Consultative Group provides a broader donor and programme country perspective to the governance process of the funding facility, and gives input on key strategic directions. The group monitors progress of the EFW each year. The Consultative Group reviews the delivery and implementation of the EFW, and its impact and results. It also reviews the overall quality of the Delivering as One approach supported by the EFW. The Consultative Group reviews the financial aspects of the EFW, specifically the financial reporting of funds received and disbursed through the funding window, future financing requirements and allocation criteria. Three donors and three programme countries are represented in the Consultative Group on a rotational basis. Donor representatives are drawn from those donors contributing to the EFW, while programme country representatives are drawn from those countries eligible for funding.

Secretariat
The EFW Secretariat, on behalf of the Steering Committee, ensures the policies and strategies decided by the Steering Committee are implemented and adhered to by countries receiving funds from the funding facility. The Secretariat is led by the Director of the UN Development Operations Coordination Office (UN DOCO), and is the first point of contact for UN Country Teams requiring relevant support and guidance. For inquiries and requests for support, see EFW contacts page.

Fund Manager
The Steering Committee has appointed the United Nations Development Programme’s Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTF Office) as the EFW Fund Manager. Its responsibilities include the receipt and management of contributions from donors, and transfers of such funds to DaO/One UN Funds in accordance with the approved EFW Steering Committee allocations. The Fund Manager also prepares an annual Source and Use of Funds report on the EFW and submits this to the EFW Steering Committee along with the Consolidated Annual Progress Reports prepared by the respective Administrative Agents of the DaO/One UN Funds that have received allocations from the EFW.

Decision Making Process

Based on the EFW eligibility criteria, the UN Resident Coordinators, on behalf of the UN Country Teams requesting funding from the EFW, are required to submit a Request for Funding to the Chair of the EFW Steering Committee through the EFW Secretariat.

The Steering Committee for the Expanded DAO Funding Window makes final decisions on eligibility of countries and corresponding allocation volumes. Taking all allocation decisions at once will enable the Steering Committee to have an overview of funds available and overall requirements. Progress in implementation will be a criterion for the following year’s allocation decision.

The specifics of the allocation formula and process are included in the EFW Guidance Note for Country Teams.