Max-Otto Baumann is a Senior Researcher at the German Development Institute (Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik - DIE). His research focuses on UN development system reform, in particular in the areas of governance, coordination and funding. He is a member of the research programme Inter- and Transnational Cooperation with the Global South.
Erik Lundsgaarde was until July 2019 a Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS). His research focuses on global development policy trends, the organisation of development cooperation, and development effectiveness. His current work examines the financing of the multilateral development system and the coordination of climate finance for developing countries.
Silke Weinlich is a Senior Researcher at the German Development Institute (Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik - DIE). She is a member of the research programme on Inter- and Trans-national Cooperation with the Global South where she leads a project on the UN development system and its reform needs. Current research interests include the reform of the UNDS and broader questions of multilateral development cooperation, South-South cooperation and the UN, as well as questions of global governance.
Do we know enough about the various forms of ear-marked funding arrangements to inform decision-making? What positive and negative marks have three decades of earmarked contributions left on the UN development system (UNDS)? What challenges do donors face in managing earmarked funding? And what perspectives on the earmarking conundrum at the UNDS are helpful in identifying entry points for reform? This contribution provides some answers to these questions, drawing on findings from our broader study on earmarking in the multilateral development system. Towards the end of the piece, we reflect on how to take the recently adopted UN Funding Compact forward.