India has contributed five lakh US Dollars to the UN Peace Building Fund. India has been a Member of the Peace Building Commission since its inception and has so far contributed five million US Dollars to the Peacebuilding Fund.
The United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) is a multi-year standing trust fund for post-conflict peacebuilding, established in 2006 by the UN Secretary General at the request of the UN General Assembly with an initial funding target of $250 million.
The fund was established out of the recognition that among the impediments to successful peacebuilding is the scarcity of resources, most notably financial resources. The fund aims therefore to extend critical support during the early stages of a peace process.
Since its establishment in October 2006, the Peacebuilding Fund facility has been activated for the two countries currently under consideration by the Peacebuilding Commission, Burundi and Sierra Leone.
The Secretary-General allocated US$ 35 million each for these two countries earlier this year.
PBF provides this support through two financing tracks:
The Immediate Response Facility (IRF) is the project-based financing mechanism of the PBF that was created to address critical peacebuilding needs in the immediate aftermath of conflict or as a result of a dramatic change in the country situation. It provides rapid funding to address urgent peacebuilding needs to support critical transition moments. With small, catalytic resources, the Fund demonstrates to governments and citizens that new paths to sustainable peace are possible.
The Peacebuilding and Recovery Facility (PRF) is the programme-based financing mechanism of the PBF, typically aimed at countries within several years following the end of a conflict. The PRF requires the elaboration of a strategic plan for peacebuilding, called the Peacebuilding Priority Plan, which supports national efforts at peacebuilding. While PBSO has final approval of the Priority Plan, project-level approval is delegated to a Joint Steering Committee (JSC) that is established at country level and co-led by the United Nations and the partner government. In this way, PRF provides conflict-affected countries that have made clear commitments to addressing post-conflict fragility with longer-term support for initiatives that consolidate peace. It also creates mechanisms for effective partnerships between national authorities, the UN, donors, and civil society organizations (CSOs) at the country level to support governments with strong commitments to peacebuilding.
The activities with a specific scope to be funded by the Peacebuilding Fund will include:
(a) Activities designed to respond to imminent threats to the peace process, support for the implementation of peace agreements and political dialogue, in particular in relation to strengthening of national institutions and processes set up under those agreements;
(b) Activities undertaken to build and/or strengthen national capacities to promote coexistence and peaceful resolution of conflict and to carry out peacebuilding activities;
(c) Activities undertaken in support of efforts to revitalize the economy and generate immediate peace dividends for the population at large;
(d) Establishment or re-establishment of essential administrative services and related human and technical capacities which may include, in exceptional circumstances and over a limited period of time, the payment of civil service salaries and other recurrent costs.