Shifting away from the donor-driven UN: an assessment of the pooled funding mechanism

这个世界需要更强有力的国际机构，特别是需要一个更有权威的联合国。这一信念得到了最近一项调查研究的支持，并得到了许多超国家和世界主义联合国改革建议的倡导者的认同。从这一信念出发，拟议的研究旨在解决当前联合国筹资机制中影响联合国对-à-vis成员国权威的最具问题的方面：自愿指定用途捐款。在对相关学术文献进行审查后，确定了集中资金是协调自愿指定捐款与更权威的联合国之间关系的可能解决方案。然而，不清楚的是，与限制性更强、更有害的特定项目和方案专用资金相比，集中资金在很大程度上仍未得到充分利用。因此，本研究旨在回答以下两个研究问题：首先，与特定方案和项目的供资方式相比，为什么汇集资金作为联合国筹资机制获得捐助者自愿指定用途捐款的利用如此不足？其次，要增加其使用，需要满足哪些条件？设想进行这项研究项目的方法将具有很强的经验成分，但也将植根于理论方法。相信回答这些研究问题不仅可以填补文献上的重要空白，而且有助于找到减少捐助者对联合国方案编制和业务影响的解决方案，最终实现一个更少捐助者驱动、更权威的联合国。

This world needs stronger international institutions, and most notably, a more authoritative United Nations. Starting from this belief, which is backed by a recent survey study and shared by many advocates of supranational and cosmopolitan proposals of UN reform, the proposed research aims to address what is arguably the most problematic aspect of the current UN funding mechanism affecting the UN authority vis-à-vis its member states: the voluntary earmarked contributions. Following a review of relevant scholarly literature, pooled funding is identified as a possible solution to reconcile voluntary earmarked contributions with a more authoritative UN. However, it is unclear why pooled funding remains largely underused compared to the more restrictive and detrimental project- and programme-specific earmarked funding.This research therefore aims to answer the following two research questions: firstly, why is pooled funding so underused as a UN funding mechanism to acquire donor voluntary earmarked contributions compared to the programme- and project-specific funding modality?; and secondly, what are the conditions to be met in order to increase its use?The methodology envisaged to conduct this research project will have a strong empirical component but will also be rooted in theoretical approaches. It is believed that answering the research questions will not only allow to fill an important gap in literature, but also contribute to finding solutions to decrease donors' influence on UN programming and operations and ultimately achieve a less donor-driven, more authoritative UN.