Situating the UN Democracy Fund (Global INSIGHTS‪)‬

THE UN DEMOCRACY FUND (UNDEF) IS A RELATIVELY NEW BODY ESTABlished to contribute to building democracy around the world. It is the only UN body with the word "Democracy" in its title, and one of only two entities singled out by name by President Barack Obama in his 2010 UN General Assembly speech as deserving of increased support. (1) As a fund, its purpose is to invest in democratization processes and thus to encourage progress toward the ideals of democracy. In the first five years of UNDEF's assistance, some thirty-eight states have contributed around $110 million. The two leading contributors to UNDEF are the United States and India. The idea of creating UNDEF emerged from discussions between these two countries. Other major contributors are Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Qatar, Spain, and Sweden, as well as a wide range of nontraditional donors from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. By 2010, UNDEF had held four rounds of funding and launched 335 projects. (2) To determine how and in whom to invest these funds, UNDEF must situate itself in several ways. First, it needs to understand the theoretical context in which it works and determine where it fits into this wider picture. Second, UNDEF needs to find its place within the UN family so as to complement the work of other members of the organization, not duplicate it. Finally, it needs to understand the market in which it is operating. Because UNDEF is a voluntary fund and contributions to UNDEF are eligible as official development assistance (ODA), it is within the ODA processes that UNDEF must situate itself. In this article, I examine each of these issues before arriving at a solution. Much of the information that I draw on is available at the UNDEF website, www.un.org/democracyfund/.