UNDEF's primary purpose is to strengthen the voice of civil society and ensure the participation of all groups in democratic practices. The Fund complements current UN efforts to strengthen and expand democracy worldwide and funds projects that enhance democratic dialogue and support for constitutional processes, civil society empowerment, including the empowerment of women, civic education and voter registration, citizen's access to information, participation rights and the rule of law in support of civil society and transparency and integrity.

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No, the Fund does not support a single model of democracy. As echoed in the World Summit's Outcome Document (2005), as democracy is one of the “universal and indivisible core values and principles of the United Nations”, it is not “owned” by any a single country or region, not does it follow one particular model.

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Democracy and democratization have long been part of the UN's overall agenda, as reflected in many UN documents including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the Agenda for Democracy (1996) and the Millennium Declaration (2000) which put emphasis on popular participation in governance.

Specific entities of the UN System have been explicitly addressing these issues for some time, notably the UN Department of Political Affairs, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN Development Programme.

In the wake of the UN reform, the wish to re-emphasize the importance of this issue and further develop efforts in this regard was materialized in the Secretary-General proposals to the 2005 World Summit. One of these proposals was the creation of the Democracy Fund at the United Nations, which was welcomed by Member States.

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The Fund attempts to complement existing activities, and respond to requests that go beyond the reach of existing mechanisms. It works closely with other UN bodies to ensure coordination.

In order to do so, one of the key actors of the UNDEF's governance structure is the Programme Consultative Group (PCG). The PCG is composed of representatives from the UN Department of Political Affairs, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the UN Development Fund for Women, the UN Development Programme, the UN Development Group, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights giving substantive and scientific advice to the UNDEF Office and the Advisory Board on project proposals and funding criteria.

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UNDEF is a voluntary fund, established as a Trust Fund by the Secretary-General under the UN Financial Rules and Regulations. For an updated version of the current funding, please refer to the Financial Contributors section of the UNDEF website.

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No, UNDEF will regularly call for proposals and these will be selected and decided on their merits. The Project Proposal Guidelines, however, specify certain eligibility criteria for funding and underline specific considerations also taken into account while selecting the received project proposals.

UNDEF aims at supporting action-oriented projects that promote democracy and whose outputs would strengthen, for instance, the relations between Civil Society and Governmental Bodies, the inclusion and participation of marginalized segments of society and vulnerable groups, or foster South-South cooperation.

On the contrary, UNDEF gives low-priority to activities where a substantial part of the budget covers institutional recurrent costs and/or personnel costs, official/UN travel and/or conference services, or research activities.

For more detailed information, please refer to the Fourth Round Project Proposal Guidelines available from this website.

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The purpose of the Fund is to build capacities for democratic governance, especially at the country level. This can only be done effectively in a supportive institutional environment. Activities funded by the UNDEF will not be imposed on a country. The approach will be one of cooperation and support.

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The Democracy Fund has its own Executive Head and staff. The Executive Head reports directly to the Advisory Board on substantive matters and reports to the Executive Director of UN Office for Partnerships for administrative purposes.

UN Office for Partnerships provides the necessary administrative and financial support in a cost-effective way.

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