Finland channels core funding to UN organisations

Finland channels core funding to UN organisations

Finland has granted core funding from the 2024 development cooperation appropriation as follows: EUR 25 million to the United Nations Population Fund UNFPA, EUR 19 million to UN Women, EUR 7 million to the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF, EUR 2 million to the United Nations Development Programme UNDP and EUR 1.5 million to the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP.

"Finland's support enables UN development organisations to respond sooner and more effectively to crises and global challenges. They focus their efforts on areas where assistance is needed the most and help those in the most vulnerable position, such as persons with disabilities," says Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio.

UNFPA advocates for women and girls. In 2023, the work carried out with Finland's funding helped to avoid nearly 900 maternal deaths, prevented nearly 500,000 unintended pregnancies and supported access to sexual and reproductive health services for over 700,000 women and girls.

Through its work, UN Women increases women's participation in society and improves national legislation in countries around the world. In 2022-2023, UN Women developed gender equality legislation that impacts 2.8 billion women in 78 countries.

UNICEF's support enabled approximately 37.7 million children and young people, half of them girls, to gain access to school in 2023. A total of 132.9 million children were vaccinated against measles and over 400 million children were vaccinated against polio. UNICEF has innovation hubs in Helsinki that develop digital learning solutions and offer cooperation opportunities for Finnish businesses and for academic and public sector operators.

The UNDP seeks to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality through sustainable development. The organisation has also supported Ukraine and its citizens during the war, for example by rebuilding schools and hospitals. The UNDP also works to promote good governance and democracy in different countries. In 2023, the UNDP provided assistance in organising 22 elections with over 328.4 million voters.

UNEP supports the development of environmental administrations in developing countries and provides secretarial functions for international environmental agreements. It has assessed environmental damage inflicted by the war in Ukraine, launched international plastics treaty negotiations and helped 138 developing countries to prevent biodiversity loss, among other things.

"Finland pays particular attention to ensuring that the organisations have effective risk management and monitoring mechanisms in place. We underline the importance of this in all discussions with the UN" says Minister Tavio.