Twenty-one United Nations member states pledged Monday (Nov. 8) some USD470 million to support the global agency’s development work in 2011.
Aid to Africa was falling well below the pledges, said Nikhil Seth of the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs during the opening of the 2010 pledging conference for the U.N. He said recovery from global economic woes was “losing steam” and the negative impact of the crisis would remain in the years ahead, particularly among poor nations.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee estimated a funding gap of USD30 billion in country programmable aid compared with 2010 commitments.
The pledging conference helps to make funding for U.N. activities more “predictable, stable and sustainable,” said Oumar Daou, president of this year’s pledging conference.
