UN DEMOCRACY FUND EXPERTS GROUP DISCUSSES SHORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000327 SIPDIS DEPT FOR IO/RHS E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/27/2014 TAGS: KDEM PHUM PREL SUBJECT: UN DEMOCRACY FUND EXPERTS GROUP DISCUSSES SHORT LIST FOR THIRD ROUND OF PROJECTS Classified By: Ambassador Alex Wolff for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: The UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) Secretariat offered Advisory Board members an overview of the "short list" of third round project applications during a March 25 meeting of the Board's experts group, explaining that the sole project in Venezuela was not included in the short list because several UN colleagues felt it would not be deliverable. Board members agreed to fund the third round at a total of $20 million rather than $23 million so as not to exhaust all of UNDEF's resources. End summary. ¶2. (C) Responding to a question from the U.S. expert, UNDEF Executive Director Roland Rich explained that the one project in Venezuela (project number 7173) was not included in the short list because several UN colleagues were "adamant" that the project would be undeliverable. Although the applicant, A.C. Civitas Venezuela, is a reputable NGO, the UN felt the Government of Venezuela would not allow this civic youth training program and decided not to test that proposition. (Note: this may be UNDEF's attempt to avoid a repetition of what happened in round two with a project in Nicaragua to which the GON objected. The short list was determined by the UNDEF Secretariat taking into account the views of Board members, in-country Resident Coordinators, and the Program Consultative Group consisting of various UN agencies. UN comments are kept confidential and not shared with the Board.) Other politically sensitive projects, however, such as ones in China, Belarus, Iran, and Zimbabwe, were included in the short list. No other delegation expressed concern about the Venezuela project being dropped. ¶3. (U) Board members were presented with two short lists, including one funding 71 third round projects totaling $20 million and a second funding 81 projects totaling $23 million. Board members agreed with Rich's strong recommendation that, in the absence of assured future contributions, it would be prudent for UNDEF to fund $20 million rather than exhausting nearly all of its current resources by funding $23 million. Only India initially expressed a strong preference to fund $23 million out of concern for cutting projects, but by the meeting's end agreed to present one short list to the April 21 Advisory Board at the reduced amount. ¶4. (SBU) At Washington's request, the U.S. expert asked for clarification of why certain projects on the $23 million short list had been marked for deletion on the $20 million short list, including sole projects in Cameroon (number 5369),Malawi (5811),and Somalia (4902),and others in Afghanistan (6968),Brazil (5196),and Pakistan (6463). Rich responded that the Board had previously agreed it would base decisions on the merits of project proposals rather than on a one-country one-project rule, and said that in the case of Afghanistan, Brazil, and Pakistan UNDEF felt other projects in those countries more directly involved democracy promotion. The reasoning behind Burundi, the DRC, and Iraq each having two proposals was these were countries in trauma with greater needs than some other countries. The Australian expert offered her support for the $20 million short list and said that countries should not open the list up to negotiation. ¶5. (U) The UNDEF Advisory Board will meet April 21 at the level of Permanent Representatives and will be attended by Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro and Special Representative to the Secretary-General Ashraf Ghani. Among the agenda items are a summary of first round projects, a study of approved first round project extensions, funds disbursement of second round projects, cancellation of the second round Algeria project, the signed MOU with UNDP on monitoring, the short list for the third round, and the idea of an UNDEF goodwill ambassador (Note: No name has been offered, but UNDEF suggests a celebrity and says costs would be limited to occasional travel expenses). Documents concerning these issues have been sent via email to IO/RHS, DRL, and USUN/W. Rich said UNDEF hopes to have its commercial evaluators selected in the next month or two. Wolff