About us

The Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation and the UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office are partnering since the start of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implementation in 2016 with the production of the annual United Nations Development System (UNDS) Financing Report.

The report brings together data, analysis and expert voices with the latest on UN financing and how this can impact the achievement of SDGs. Its goal is to support policy makers, researchers, the general public and all stakeholders interested in improving their understanding of how the UN is financed to better support their shared goals.

This site hosts all the reports to date, with an option to download each edition. Stakeholders have easier access and can interact with the data through visualisations, allowing for an easier understanding of UN financing trends.

In the future, users can download the information behind many of the featured tables and graphs. Under the UN financing data and other resources you can find links to the official data sources such as UN CEB, DESA, OECD and others.

The marketplace of ideas hosts thought pieces by leaders and experts in humanitarian, development, peace and climate transition issues. Users can navigate and search by thematic areas, author and year. These insightful pieces are organised in key themes such as SDG financing, UN funding, UN reform, climate funding, humanitarian-development-peace nexus and more.

The Latest gives users the option to receive updates between consecutive editions.

Our objective is to host all these resources as an online repository to facilitate the work of Member States, UN entities, civil society, academia, journalists, and students. This will contribute to further the debates and collaboration on how to improve the quality of UN funding and SDG financing to support current and future challenges.

This is a living platform, making your opinion and insight are extremely helpful. Please send here suggestions on how to improve the site.

About the partners

 Dag_Hammarskjoeld_Foundation_logo.svg_.png
Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation

The Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation is a non-governmental organization established in memory of the second Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Foundation aims to advance dialogue and policy for sustainable development, multilateralism and peace.

Learn more
MPTFO-logo---horiz-blue
Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF) Office

The Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF) Office is the United Nations centre of expertise on pooled financing mechanisms. Hosted by the UN Development Programme, it provides fund design and fund administration services to the UN system, national governments and non-governmental partners. The MPTF Office operates in over 120 countries and manages a total cumulative portfolio of US$ 16.5 billion in pooled funds, involving annually around 70 public and private sector contributors and over 90 participating organisations.

Learn more

Learn more

Part One analyses the United Nations funding situation with the latest available data, giving an overview of where the UN system is and how the ambitions are translated into concrete action. It lifts the areas of progress and lessons to be learnt, as well as areas for action. The authors describe how the UN’s revenue is generated, and where and for what purposes resources are allocated. Contributions to the UNDS for development action in 2020 amounted to US$ 42 billion, an increase of 16% compared to 2019. Though this funding is largely financed by Members State governments, non-state actors are also increasing their engagement. It is, however, still less than needed for all the mandates and secure Sustainable Development Goals results for peace, prosperity, people and the planet.

Part Two reviews the key data and provides an overview of how funding is used. It highlights critical areas to be funded or where resources could be redirected. Examples are human development, environmental protection, gender-based violence and the need for global upscaling along with the expectations, including listing achievements and actions needed to meet the SDGs delivery.

Part Three A reviews the Funding Compact, progress highlighting positive trends in the availability of assessed contributions. It stresses the importance of prevention in a world where up to two-thirds of the global extreme poor will be living in fragility and conflict situations by 2030. While evidence shows that for every US$ 1 invested in prevention up to US$ 16 is saved in post-disaster recovery, the volume of funding that goes to prevention remains extremely low, with only 0.5% of official development assistance allocated to disasters in 2018 and 2019 going to disaster risk reduction. This is also despite the majority of humanitarian assistance – which is at the highest level ever – going to countries that have been experiencing crises for years.

Part Three B provides tangible recommendations on how to position development projects on longer-term scaling pathways, including systematic handovers that enable continued scaling at project end. Also spotlighted is the convergence between development finance and private finance. The report concludes with key takeaways from the UN high-level meeting on financing for peacebuilding and the various roundtables leading up to it.

Give us your feedback