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