UNCDF's support to the Millennium Development Goals in the Least Developed Countries has put partnership at the centre of all aspects of our work. Our partners include Academic Centres/Think Tank; Civil Society and Non-Governmental Organizations; DAC and non-DAC Donors; Development Agencies; European Institutions, Foundations; International Financial Institutions (IFIs); the Private Sector; Regional and Local Authorities and many United Nations agencies.

2008 contributions to UNCDF regular and other resources

Contributions to the UNCDF regular (core) resources increased by 51 per cent - from $15.6 million in 2007 to $23.5 million in 2008, including a $6 million contribution by UNDP to UNCDF programmes funds. The upward trend in UNCDF regular resources initiated in 2006 and sustained throughout the past three years did not, however, reach the desired minimum target of $25 million in 2008 set in the UNCDF 2008-2011 Investment Plan. Furthermore, even though the number of donors to core and non-core resources has increased from 14 in 2004 to 24 in 2008, UNCDF continues to rely on a relatively small set of donors for the bulk of its regular resources. In 2008, the 5 largest contributors to UNCDF regular resources (in order of size) - Sweden, Spain, Norway, Luxembourg and Belgium - constituted 91 per cent of total contributions to regular resources. Six out of 13 core donors increased their contributions to regular resources in 2008.

The total income of UNCDF surpassed the $50 million mark in 2008, resulting in the highest total income level during at least the past 15 years. This strong result was mainly accounted for by a substantial growth in contributions to other (non-core) resources, which increased from $12.9 million in 2007 to $26.6 million in 2008. The top five contributors to UNCDF other resources in 2008 were (in order of size) Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Belgian Survival Fund (BSF), Government of Luxembourg, Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Non-core resources represent earmarked contributions to specific themes, programmes and activities, and tend to be geographically or thematically concentrated.

In 2008, UNCDF received funding from One UN Funds as part of One UN Programmes in Rwanda and Mozambique, as well as from the Millennium Achievement Fund for its programme in Nicaragua.