ODI Bites – Financing the future of multilateralism: lessons from the WHO for reforming the UN
Description
In May of this year, WHO member states agreed to triple the size of its regular budget from 16% to 50% by 2028 – a big departure from the near-zero growth budgets that had previously been in place since the 1980s.
Is this just a sign that these member states realise they can no longer starve a global technical body at the centre of the Covid-19 pandemic response? Or is it something more significant, a vote of confidence in the United Nations that bodes well for broader reforms and gives it access to predictable and flexible sources of finance?
This ODI Bites episode discusses the implications this historic decision will have on UN reform and multilateral finance.
Speakers
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Nilima Gulrajani
ODI Senior Research Fellow, Development and Public Finance
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Björn Kümmel
Senior political advisor on global health affairs, German Federal Ministry of Health
Chair of the WHO working group on sustainable financing (until May 2022) -
Dr Silke Weinlich
Senior researcher, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)