Regular Budget

Numerous reports and evaluations in recent years have noted that DPA’s budget has not kept pace with the demands placed on the Department, particularly with regard to core Charter responsibilities such as peacemaking and preventive diplomacy. In a step toward reversing that trend, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has presented to Member States a comprehensive proposal (A/62/251) to strengthen and reorganize the Department of Political Affairs.

Introducing the plan to the Fifth Committee of the UN General Assembly on 25 October 2007, the Secretary-General said the changes would boost the United Nations' capacity to prevent and resolve conflicts and represented “among the smartest investments we can make.” The proposal would increase staffing at UN headquarters, particularly in DPA’s regional divisions, and also provide an increased budget for travel of officials to areas of conflict or potential conflict. DPA's policy planning and mediation support capacity would also be strengthened. All told, the proposal would redress chronic resource shortages, providing DPA with the minimum staffing and mobility it needs to adequately assist the Secretary-General in detecting potential crises, and in mounting timely diplomatic initiatives in support of Member States.

Trust Funds

Extra-budgetary funds have come to fill an increasingly important function for DPA, enabling flexibility to response to certain needs including unanticipated “surges” in activity that cannot be planned for in the regular, biennial budget process.

DPA presented its requirements most recently at a Donor Roundtable at UN headquarters in New York in June 2008. The Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe, reported on past and ongoing projects, and appealed for future support amounting to $13.5 million over 18 months. During 2008, DPA’s Standby Team of Mediation experts, its assistance to preparatory reunification talks on Cyprus, its deployment of staff to assist mediators in Kenya, and its support to electoral observation in Zimbabwe, are some of the efforts that would not have been possible without voluntary contributions.

DPA has improved project management procedures, monitoring and evaluation capacity to ensure efficiently, transparency and accountability in the use of funds. For additional information, please contact: Delphine Bost, DPA Donor Relations Focal Point, in the Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, at bostd@un.org.