Funding

Sustainable and predictable funding is essential for UNOCT to be able to perform on its mandate consistently at the highest level and for greatest impact. 

Following the General Assembly’s approval of the Secretary-General's budget proposal in December 2022, the percentage of UNOCT’s annual budget that is covered from the UN Regular Budget has increased from three to nine percent in 2023. While this is a significant improvement for ensuring predictable funding of UNOCT’s core mandate, UNOCT continues to rely on voluntary contributions from its funding partners for 91 percent of its annual budget, including for all capacity development activities in support of Member States.

The United Nations Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism

The Fund was established in 2009 by the Secretary-General and transferred to UNOCT when it was created in 2017 following General Assembly resolution 71/291. The Fund accepts contributions from Governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations, private institutions and individuals. Contributions may be unearmarked or earmarked for one of UNOCT’s global programmes or specific initiatives. Since its inception in 2009 until 31 March 2024, UNOCT mobilized US$379.5 million in pledges from 42 funding partners and through allocations from the United Nations Peace and Development Trust Fund.

The Office has continuously diversified its funding base and since 2018 it has welcomed contributions from fifteen new funding partners (2024: Organization of American States (OAS); 2023: Uzbekistan, Oman, Turkmenistan, the Philippines, and UNODC for a joint project funded by the European Union; 2022: UNDP Multi-Partner Trust Fund; 2021: France; 2020: Hungary and Portugal, and UNDP for a joint project funded by the European Union; 2019: Algeria and Finland; 2018: India and the Russian Federation).

UNOCT top 10 funding partners (data as of 31 March 2024):

Contributions to the UN Trust Fund (data as of 31 March 2024):

Voluntary contributions allow UNOCT to provide technical assistance and capacity building support to Member States through global, regional and national projects around the world delivered by the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) and the Special Projects and Innovation Branch (SPIB). Underpinning all aspects of UNOCT’s work remains an unconditional commitment to mainstreaming human rights and gender obligations.

We look forward to engaging with you on exploring new partnership opportunities and on deepening existing ones under the UN Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism. Please reach out to us at OCT-ResourceMobilization@un.org.

Funding for UNCCT

UNCCT relies exclusively on voluntary contributions for its strategic capacity development activities. Established in 2011 through a voluntary contribution of US$10 million from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, following a recommendation in the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (A/Res/60/288). This support was complemented in 2014 with an additional US$100 million making the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia UNCCT’s largest contributor.

As of 31 March 2024, UNCCT has received $179.1 million in contributions from 38 funding partners. This represents almost half (47%) of the total contributions and allocations received in the UN Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism.

UNCCT continuously strives to increase its share of unearmarked funding for its programmes and projects, to diversify the partner base and ensure sustainable funding for multi-year projects. Flexible funding has allowed UNCCT to deliver effective and responsive support to affected States by allocating resources quickly for agile and concerted multilateral action in the face of emerging threats. 

Coordinated resource mobilization across the UN system

As part of UNOCT’s mandate to enhance coordination and coherence across the United Nations system, one of the office’s core functions is to improve visibility, advocacy and resource mobilization for United Nations counter-terrorism efforts.

Two consecutive joint multi-year appeals for counter-terrorism have brought United Nations entities closer together for coordinated resource mobilization, joint outreach to partners and beneficiaries, and enhanced programmatic collaboration. 

Building on the lessons learned and informed by feedback from stakeholders, UNOCT launched the UN Joint Appeal for Counter-Terrorism in Africa in 2023.

The Joint Appeal brings together 16 UN Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact entities under ten joint flagship initiatives to steer and incentivize strategic joint UN system action for a more visible, transparent and effective multilateral contribution to the Global Counter Terrorism Strategy across the continent.

The Joint Appeal is directed at Member States to provide resources to fund the joint initiatives directly through the participating entities facilitated by the Joint Appeal secretariat based in UNOCT.

Please visit the Joint Appeal website www.jointappeal.org to learn more about funding and partnership opportunities, and the programmatic impact the Joint Appeal seeks to deliver.