New York –  IOM, the UN Migration Agency, yesterday (26/04) formally joined the Joint Fund for the 2030 Agenda at a signing ceremony between IOM Director-General William Lacy Swing and Jennifer Topping, the Executive Director of the Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office.

The Joint Fund, which was launched by United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, during the April 2018 ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development, will support global efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

 “The Joint Fund will open the door to a range of new programmes and activities to meet the commitments of the 2030 Agenda,” said Director General Swing. “IOM hopes that it will promote collaboration between UN agencies and stakeholders, including to foster integrated approaches to migration management.”

It will allow IOM and its UN Country Team (UNCT) partners to submit funding proposals – through UN Resident Coordinators – for projects that are identified as having high potential to accelerate SDG progress.

IOM’s entry to the Fund comes at a time when UN Member States are discussing the challenges and obstacles to financing the ambitious commitments outlined in the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to some estimates, achieving the SDGs will require trillions of dollars of additional investment. These are resources that, while available, are not necessarily flowing to the areas of biggest development impact.

The Joint Fund however, is intended to focus attention on the areas in which the UN System can create the most positive change, bringing together participating UN agencies and other partners to support national development objectives.

By prioritizing partnerships, the Joint Fund will also support the UN Secretary-General’s ongoing reforms to the UN Development System, which are intended to reposition the organization to deliver on the 2030 Agenda.

“We are delighted that IOM has joined the family of agencies that have signed on to the Joint Fund for Agenda 2030. We believe that this fund will become a critical and catalytic instrument, helping governments accelerate progress towards SDG achievement, through addressing policy bottlenecks and unlocking SDG financing,” said Topping. “To reach its full potential the Joint Fund will need all entities of the UN to work and coordinate effectively together,” she added.

The Secretary-General’s proposed reforms emphasize the value of pooled funds as more effective and transparent funding mechanisms that also promote better coordination amongst UN agencies.

As the latest UN body to join the Fund, IOM hopes to galvanize action on the many parts of the 2030 Agenda relevant to migrants and to migration. These include areas such as health, education, gender equality, migration governance, human trafficking and forced labour, remittances, climate change, disaster risk reduction and cities.

More information on the Joint Fund for the 2030 Agenda can be found here

For further information please contact Christopher Richter at IOM New York, Tel: +1 917 7670863, Email: crichter@iom.int