The Subprogramme on the Family
The follow up to the International Year of the Family is the responsibility of the Subprogramme on the Family of the Division for Social Policy and Development within the Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development. The follow-up activities to the International Year of the Family are in accordance with intergovernmental mandates e.g. General Assembly resolutions 47/237 of 20 September 1993 and 50/142 of 21 December 1995 respectively.
A major priority of the Subprogramme on the Family is to mobilize resources to support salient initiatives and to utilize the United Nations Trust Fund on Family Activities to respond to family-specific needs at the national level.
The United Nations Trust Fund on Family Activities provides financial assistance for activities specific to the family and projects of direct benefit to it, with the special focus on least developed and developing countries.
Grants from the Fund support practical action by governments and by non-governmental organizations at the national, regional and global levels in the following areas:
- activities of a pilot nature or which form part of larger development initiatives which aim at building national capacities for improved well-being of families in developing countries;
- public information and awareness building measures concerned with the situation of families in the context of national development; and
- emerging issues and trends, assessments of their implications for families, training, and evaluations of strategies, policies and programmes.
Governments and non-governmental organizations, with concurrence of government(s) concerned, can submit requests for assistance for consideration by the Fund. Governments can submit requests for assistance directly to the United Nations Secretariat or through the local office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Consultation with the local office of UNDP will help to ensure that requests are consistent with ongoing and planned multi- and bilateral development assistance activities.
Since the Secretariat provides assistance to governments upon request, non-governmental organizations should first obtain the concurrence of the concerned governmental officials in their country prior to submitting a request for assistance to the Fund. NGOs may wish to consult with the local office of UNDP about procedures for obtaining the endorsement of the concerned governmental authorities in the matter.
Since the resources of the Fund are designed to provide seed-money grants for catalytic and innovative action, grants generally co-finance rather than cover the entire cost of a proposal; grants range from US$5,000 to US$20,000 per proposal.
A project proposal is designed to provide the basic information required to appraise a proposal and to prepare a detailed plan of operations once funding is confirmed. The project proposal has five sections:
- Background and justification of the project: what is the origin of the proposal - the problem or issue addressed, what is its social and economic setting, and why is assistance required?
- Objectives of the project: how does the proposal relate to national development strategies, policies and programmes, and what specifically does the project expect to achieve?
- Expected results of the project: what will the proposal produce in terms of specific results, who will benefit and who will pay?
- Project implementation and management: how will the project be carried out, in terms of a work plan, schedule of activities, and parties responsible for its implementation management?
- Project budget: what will the project cost, how will this be financed, what components are the United Nations being requested to finance, and what is government prepared to finance?
The Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development is responsible for the substantive management of the UN Trust Fund on Family Activities. The Subprogramme on the Family carries out work for the allocation of the Fund=s resources, reviews requests for funding, processes grants for projects and monitors their implementation.
The Subprogramme on the Family welcomes project proposals concerned with family issues. They should be sent to: Room DC2-1302, Division for Social Policy and Development, Subprogramme on the Family, New York, NY 10017.
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