Funding and donors

Resource mobilization is a top priority for the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT). 

With approximately 3% of the Office’s annual budget coming from the UN Regular Programme Budget, UNOCT relies on the generous contributions of donors to the United Nations Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism to finance its critical counter-terrorism activities and initiatives in support of and as requested by Member States. 

The United Nations Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism was created by the Secretary-General in 2009 under DPA, and transferred to UNOCT in June 2017 upon its establishment following General Assembly resolution 71/291. UNOCT also receives allocations from the United Nations Peace and Development Trust Fund managed by the Executive Office of the Secretary-General (funded by the Government of the People's Republic of China).

Since the establishment of the UN Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism in 2009 until 31 March 2022, UNOCT has mobilized US$335.8 million in pledges from 35 donors and through allocations from the United Nations Peace and Development Trust Fund. The Office has made efforts to attract new donors and has welcomed contributions from eight new donors since 2018 (2018: India, Russian Federation; 2019: Algeria, Finland; 2020: Hungary, Portugal, UNDP for a joint project funded by the European Union; 2021: France).

Top contributors to the UN Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism since in 2009, and other allocations (data as of 31 March 2022)

Cumulative and annual contributions to the UN Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism since its inception, and through other allocations to UNOCT (data as of 31 March 2022)

Voluntary contributions allow UNOCT to provide technical assistance and capacity building support to Member States through global, regional and national projects around the world delivered by the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) and the Special Projects and Innovation Branch (SPIB), as well as the policy, planning, monitoring and evaluation. UNOCT programmes and projects integrate gender and human right considerations, and are often implemented jointly with Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact entities. 

UNOCT welcomes contributions from Member States to the UN Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism. These contributions can be both unearmarked funds for the priorities identified by the organization or earmarked for specific projects. UNOCT welcomes funding for project activities from multiple interested donors.

For more information, please contact OCT-ResourceMobilization@un.org.

Funding for UNCCT

The United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) relies exclusively on voluntary contributions for funding of its mandated activities. The UNCCT was established in 2011 through a voluntary contribution of US$10 million from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, following the recommendation in the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (A/Res/60/288, Pillar II, para 9) ‘that the question of creating an international centre to fight terrorism could be considered, as part of international efforts to enhance the fight against terrorism’. In 2014, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia donated an additional US$100 million to help finance the work of the UNCCT making them the largest donor to UNCCT.

As of 31 March 2022, UNCCT has received $161.7 million through the generous contributions from 32 donors. This represents 48% of the total of contributions received to the UN Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism, and other allocations including the United Nations Peace and Development Fund.

UNCCT continues efforts to obtain un-earmarked funding or co-funding for its various programmes and projects, to diversify the donor base and ensure sustainable funding for multi-year projects. This has so far allowed the Centre to cover a broader spectrum of its thematic and geographic areas, while maintaining the consistent and balanced implementation of the 5-Year Programme.

Consolidated Multi-Year Appeal

The United Nations Multi-Year Appeal for Counter-Terrorism is a tool to coordinate the United Nations’ resource mobilization and outreach efforts to secure sustainable and predictable funding for agile and concerted multilateral counter-terrorism responses required to effectively respond to the complex and the continually evolving threat of terrorism and violent extremism.

The 2021-2022 United Nations Multi-Year Appeal for Counter-Terrorism seeks $179 million for 52 projects from 12 projects and programmes from entities of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact (including CTED, IMO, INTERPOL, IOM, OHCHR, UNDP, UNICEF, UNICRI, UNOCT, UNODC and UN Women).

Built as an interactive digital tool, the Multi-Year Appeal for 2021-2022 facilitates a dynamic user experience for interested Member States and potential donors and allow them to search by country, region, thematic priority or implementing partner.

The MYA is accessible here: 2021-2022 United Nations Multi-Year Appeal for Counter-Terrorism | Office of Counter-Terrorism

For more information, please contact ct-mya@un.org