Germany Makes the First Contribution to the UNDP Multi-Partners Basket Fund for Elections
A signing Ceremony of the Cost-Sharing Agreement (CSA) between the Government of Federal Republic of Germany and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was held today in Sheba Hotel. According to this CSA, the Government of Germany allocated Euro 750.000 (US$ 950.000) to support the upcoming Early Presidential Elections in Yemen.
This contribution will be channeled through the UNDP’s Multi-donors Basket Fund in support of elections during the Transitional Period, which was established to assist the Government of Yemen (GoY), and the Supreme Committee of Elections and Referendum (SCER), during the electoral cycle.
According to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Implementation Mechanism (signed in Riyadh on 24 November), the United Nations is requested to provide required assistance to the respective Yemen institutions to conduct agreed elections and constitutional referendum within the transitional period of 2011-2014. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the designated agency in the UN system to undertake this task.
UNDP has developed this project to meet the immediate needs to carry out successful Early Presidential Elections in February 2012, and to prepare the ground for the second presidential and parliamentary elections, as well as the constitutional referendum expected in the coming two years (up to 2014), as indicated in the GCC mechanism. The project amounts to US$ 15 million for the electoral cycle and will be implemented in two inter-linked phase, in which the first phase will mainly focus on the Early Presidential Elections of 21 February 2012.
During the period of this project, the capacity of SCER will be further developed at both institutional and individual levels.
This contribution is the first to be provided from the multi-partners basket fund. Other key donors have shown interest to provide financial contribution to this important elections project. Accordingly, other signings are expected to take place in the coming days.
The CSA was signed by H.E. Holger Green, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Republic of Yemen, and Mr. Gustavo Gonzales, UNDP Yemen Senior Country Director.
The singing was attended by H.E. Judge Mohammad Housien Al Hakimi, President of SCER, high officials from SCER, GoY, Germany and UNDP.