The UN Refugee Agency is the United Nations’ leading agency working to protect the rights and welfare of refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced people, and the stateless.
From a $300,000 annual budget when it was established in 1950, it has grown rapidly, until its total procurement volume amounted to $1.3 billion in 2021. Although down by 3.2% from the previous year, the agency still ranked eighth among the biggest procurers within the U.N. system.
According to the U.N.’s annual statistical report data — which covers what it terms major contract awards worth over $30,000 — UNHCR spent $1.1 billion on major contracts in 2021 or 4.9% of the total spent by all U.N agencies. We looked into the data to see where it went.