VZCZCXYZ0007
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #0428 1141350
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 241350Z APR 09
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6411
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 3666

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000428 
 
SIPDIS 
 
IO/RHS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: APRIL 25 UNDEF ADVISORY BOARD MEETING 
 
REF: USUN 327 
 
¶1. Summary: The UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) Advisory Board met 
April 21 to finalize its recommendations for third round 
projects to fund for approximately $20 million, consistent 
with the short list discussed during the March 25 meeting of 
the Board's experts group (reftel).  India and Germany 
announced new contributions to the Fund, and the U.S., Japan, 
Qatar, and Japan underscored their continued commitment to 
UNDEF.  However, the Fund's ability to support $20 million 
worth of grants in a fourth round for 2010 remains in doubt. 
End summary. 
 
¶2. The UNDEF Advisory Board met at the Ambassadorial level 
and was attended by Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose 
Migiro, Board Chair Michael Doyle, UNDEF Executive Director 
Roland Rich, and Special Representative to the 
Secretary-General Ashraf Ghani, among others.  Following the 
Secretary General's opening comments regarding the importance 
of UNDEF's role "meeting the demand side of democracy" by 
focusing on civil society, members were invited to comment on 
recent developments on contributions.  India announced that 
it has contributed $5 million to the Fund for 2009, Germany 
said it would contribute $1.5 million, and Ambassador Wolff 
indicated that a U.S. contribution would be forthcoming. 
Representatives from France, Qatar, and Japan articulated 
their continued support for UNDEF without making any new 
funding commitments. 
 
¶3. In asking that the Advisory Board recommend the 71 
projects on the third round short list for approval by the 
Secretary-General, the UNDEF secretariat suggested making one 
change: substituting Bangladesh project number 6413 for 
project number 6899, which UNDP said it doesn't want to be 
involved in.  The Board agreed to the short list with this 
change.  Roland Rich recognized the selection process is not 
a science, saying that all of the projects selected are 
excellent, even if not all worthy projects have been 
included.  As a next step, UNDEF will advise the permanent 
representatives (PRs) of countries where projects are to be 
delivered, and does not anticipate any problems.  If any of 
these PRs have "information" about the projects in their 
countries, Rich said they would be invited to bring it to the 
attention of the Advisory Board.  Once this process is 
complete within the next couple weeks, the list will be sent 
to the Secretary-General for approval, with the goal of 
starting the contract negotiations process by June. 
 
¶4. Other agenda items included a summary of first round 
projects, a study of approved first round project extensions, 
funds disbursement of second round projects, cancellation of 
the second round Algeria project, the signed MOU with UNDP on 
monitoring, and the idea of an UNDEF goodwill ambassador. 
Documents concerning these issues were previously sent via 
email to IO/RHS, DRL, and USUN/W.  Members generally 
supported the idea of a goodwill ambassador provided new 
costs were not involved; Roland Rich said the only expense 
could involve travel.  No goodwill ambassador has yet been 
identified. 
 
¶5. Board members emphasized the importance of continuing to 
strengthen UNDEF's monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, and 
of assessing the impact of completed and ongoing projects. 
In a long, philosophical statement, Ashraf Ghani challenged 
the Fund to focus more on project outcomes, and not just 
outputs.  Michael Doyle and Roland Rich welcomed the feedback 
and said UNDEF is a learning organization that will formalize 
a feedback mechanism.  Separately, the representative from 
Femmes Africa Solidarite described the importance of UNDEF's 
work in Africa, particularly on projects that facilitate 
gender mainstreaming in conflict-ridden societies. 
 
¶6. Comment: Once UNDEF allocates the projected $20 million 
for third round projects, it will have $4.38 million left. 
With the $5 million Indian contribution and likely $1.5 
million German and $3 million U.S. contributions, it will 
reach just under $14 million this year.  The UNDEF 
Secretariat believes that future rounds should not fall below 
$20 million, but it is unclear how the Fund will pass that 
threshold this year given current levels of funding, 
reductions in the size of the annual U.S. contribution, and 
the absence of additional pledges.  $2 million of the funds 
are reserved for administrative costs. 
Rice