World Solidarity Fund

The 57th General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution on 20 December 2002 approving the decision of the World Summit on Sustainable Development to establish a World Solidarity Fund to eradicate poverty and promote social development in developing countries. The Fund was subsequently endorsed by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on 11 July 2003. The ECOSOC resolution requested the UNDP Administrator to take measures to operationalize the Fund through the establishment of a high-level committee, and invited UNDP and interested member states to raise awareness of the Fund's existence among public and private sectors as well as within civil society.

The World Solidarity Fund is modelled on the Tunisian National Solidarity Fund, which was set up by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in December 1992. Known throughout Tunisia by its post office account number "26-26", and financed mainly by tax-deductible donations from Tunisian citizens and companies, the Tunisian fund improved living conditions, promoted economic growth and helped reduce poverty to around four percent in the space of a few years. The success of the Tunisian Fund was recognized at the World Summit on Social Development, as well as by a large number of regional and international fora including the League of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Islamic Conference Organization, the Non-Aligned Movement, the G-77 Summit, the Euro-African Summit and the African-Chinese Summit.

The World Solidarity Fund is designed to facilitate implementation of the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2015. It operates as a UNDP Trust Fund and contributions are voluntary in nature. In particular, it seeks to encourage contributions from the private sector, relevant institutions, foundations and individuals as recommended in the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Once resources are made available to the Fund, developing countries will be invited to submit poverty alleviation projects for consideration. Initiatives from community-based organizations and small private sector entities received through Governments of developing countries are also eligible for financing.

In order to be effective, it is important to increase awareness about the World Solidarity Fund, as well as the success of the Tunisian Fund on which it is modelled, and to implement a successful strategy to mobilize sufficient resources from the private sector, civil society, individuals and governments.

Link

The website for the Tunisian lobby for the World Solidarity Fund.

Stamp catalogue

Tunisia 29 March 2001

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last revised: 14 February 2008