UN Horizon Trust Fund 

Objectives

Fund scope

The Fund will operate through three dedicated funding windows by consolidating resources under a unified financing mechanism, it enhances inter-agency coordination and enables donors to channel funds effectively across UN agencies.

1 Early Recovery Joint Programmes

Restoring essential services and infrastructure, strengthening early recovery, and building long-term resilience, through rehabilitating critical sectors and supporting livelihoods and governance, with the goal of creating conditions for stability, social cohesion, and sustainable development across Gaza and the oPt.

2 Emergency Support for SMEs and Investment Generation

Revitalizing MSMEs) to restore jobs and economic growth, through offering[MJ1]  financial guarantees and technical assistance to enable access to credit, sustain businesses, and strengthen resilience[MJ2] .  through financial guarantees, investment facilitation, and targeted support to crowd in private capital.

3 Support the State of Palestine Reform agenda, Institutional Development, Governance and Social Protection

Building accountable institutions and inclusive services, through advancing governance reforms, promoting gender equality, education, health and youth employment, and expanding social protection to foster trust and stability.

Theory of Change

The Fund encourages partners to engage through multi-year commitments and joint programming, aligning efforts with Palestinian national priorities, and the UN recovery and Cooperation development frameworks, serving as a platform for strategic donor coordination and collective impact. Together, these partnerships will drive transformative change, restore livelihoods, and build a foundation for long-term stability and development.

The Theory of Change is predicated on sustained commitment by all parties to uphold and implement the ceasefire agreement, the absence of major destabilizing developments in the short term, and the availability of security and access conditions necessary for timely and effective implementation. Within this enabling environment, if the State of Palestine , the United Nations, and international and national partners work in a coordinated, transparent, and mutually accountable manner to rapidly identify, prioritize, resource, and implement critical interventions that deliver: the following three outcomes: (1) People live safely with sustainable livelihoods; (2) A stable and sustainable Palestinian economy; (3) Strengthened Palestinian leadership and institutional ownership. Collectively, these short-term results will contribute to medium- and long-term outcomes of greater political stability across the State of Palestine and renewed progress toward peaceful, inclusive, and sustainable development, placing the State of Palestine firmly on a trajectory of recovery, resilience, and long-term growth.

Strategic Framework

This approach leverages the UN’s operational presence across the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), especially Gaza, to scale up recovery efforts, strengthen Government of Palestine and mobilize the private sector and civil society. The Fund is anchored in key programming principles: Leave No One Behind, ensuring support for the most vulnerable; Human Rights, embedding protection and accountability; and Gender Equality and Youth Empowerment, promoting inclusion, equal opportunities, and resilience across all interventions.

Proposed Intervention Strategy: Three-window funding model

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Governance

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Board

Steering Committee serves as the principal governance body of the Fund, providing overall strategic direction, high-level oversight, and guidance to ensure the Fund’s alignment with national priorities, UN mandates, and donor commitments.

The SC will be co-chaired by the UN Resident Coordinator (RC) and the Government of Palestine (represented by the minister of finance and planning) and will include rotating representatives from contributing donors and UN agencies. Membership will consist of:

• Up to three representatives of contributing donors;
• Up to three representatives from the UN Country Team (UNCT) entities; SC representation will rotate based on thematic relevance and comparative advantage for the upcoming year’s allocation priorities;
• Other key stakeholders, as agreed by the co-chairs

Secretariat is headed initially by the head of the RCO. A dedicated Fund Manager and team will be recruited following approval by the Steering Committee. The Secretariat is the entity responsible for the operational functioning of the Fund. The Secretariat provides technical and management support to the Steering Committee. The Secretariat function will be provided by the Resident Coordinator Office with the head of the Fund Secretariat directly reporting to the Resident Coordinator as co-chair of the Fund Steering Committee. 

Participating Organizations 

Participating United Nations Organizations develop project and programme proposals, and report on implementation and financial processes and outcomes. Each Participating Organization assumes full programmatic and financial accountability for funds disbursed to it by the Administrative Agent.  

Administrative Agent 

Recipient Organizations receive funds through the Administrative Agent, the MPTF Office. The Administrative Agent is responsible for the receipt, administration and management of contributions from donors, disbursement of funds to Recipient Organizations, and consolidation and dissemination of progress reports to donors. 

Projects

UN Horizon Trust Fund

UN Horizon Trust Fund is currently supporting count_projects ongoing projectscount_globalInterregional and count_countries country-specific. This table shows the most recently approved ongoing projects.

All project financial information can be found in the Financials section, including delivery analysis by organization, theme and project; project financial status by country and by theme.

UN Horizon Trust Fund

Results

The approach is to implement urgent measures starting in Q4 2025 for an initial period of three years, within the Early Recovery Approach and Action Plan as well as the UNSDCF. These actions would maximize the impact of humanitarian (lifesaving) assistance and recovery and reconstruction. This would help strengthen the capacity of the Palestinian Government in terms of reform, institutional development, and social protection. 

Contacts

Points of contact

Contacts

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