Core resources

Regular resources (or core resources) are critical for UN Women to leverage its unique mandate that includes normative support, UN system coordination and programmes on the ground. Regular resources enable UN Women to have a global reach and to have universal presence also in fragile contexts, such as in conflict and post-conflict zones. They help reduce transaction costs and leverage additional resources. Furthermore, regular resources are important for UN Women to support the accelerated implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In 2018, 115 partners provided a total of USD 149 million in regular (core) resources.

Since UN Women’s establishment in 2011, the organization has almost doubled its operational activities. As of 2018, UN Women’s programmes have been implemented in 90 countries around the world. In each of the country offices, predictable and flexible funding from regular resources allows planning, design and implementation of high impact programmes that deliver transformative results. The distribution of regular resources contributes to a set of programmatic activities that include advocating for women’s rights, monitoring the situation of women, and building partnerships and coalitions. Regular resources directly translate into increased responsiveness and sustainability of UN Women programming on the ground.

Contributions to regular resources help dismantle gender inequalities and allow UN Women to act as a powerful advocate for women and girls. They enable UN Women to support inter-governmental bodies such as the Commission on the Status of Women in their formulation of policies and global standards and norms for achieving gender equality. With regular resources, UN Women is able to provide technical and financial support to Member States, to translate global norms and standards into transformative change for women and girls on the ground.

‪Top 25 core donors 2018

‪‪Top core donor trends by year*‬

Featured publication

Core resources report 2017: A report on regular resources

Core resources report 2017

This report provides insight into which Member States contribute core (regular) funding to UN Women and shows how the funds are used to drive results, by highlighting UN Women’s key results in 2017. The report acknowledges the generosity of UN Women’s core funding partners.