Multilateral organisations such as the United Nations and multilateral development banks must play an important role in accelerating the implementation of the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development. Needed are well-functioning, effective and efficient organisations that act as guardians of the agenda, supporting governments and other stakeholders in their transformative efforts, and catalysing the Agenda’s implementation.
The practice of earmarking has shaped the multilateral development system over recent decades. On the one hand, the resources mobilised allowed organizations such as the World Bank and UN agencies to expand and broaden their activities both at the country level and with regard to global public goods, as well as to explore new partnership modalities. On the other hand, earmarking brought about new challenges concerning the effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy of multilateral development cooperation. It seems highly likely that various forms of earmarked funding will remain important sources of funding to the multilateral development system. It can, but does not need to be detrimental; if well managed and with the right properties, earmarked funding could strengthen multilateralism and the ability of organisations to help implement the 2030 Agenda.
In this workshop we will discuss the results and lessons learnt from recent and ongoing studies of the UN Development System and multilateral development banks, in order to better understand and assess the practice of earmarking in multilateral development cooperation. This debate will pave the way for identifying and refining reform options for individual agencies and the multilateral development system more generally, including the role of member states. Addressing both the multilateral banks and the UN development system in one workshop allows us to draw overall conclusions for the funding for multilateral development organizations in the age of the 2030 Agenda.
Baumann, Max-Otto / Silke Weinlich
Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation and German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)
Source: Announcement Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Feb. 2019