Top UN development official welcomes creation of global anti-poverty fund

The top United Nations development official has welcomed the General Assembly's endorsement of a global fund to help in the fight against poverty and to promote social and human development in developing countries.

Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), said the World Solidarity Fund was an "innovative mechanism" that will support national development efforts with the energy of community-based organizations, the commitment of individuals, and the vibrancy of the private sector.

"We certainly hope that the Fund will be well endowed, and look forward, in UNDP, to making full use of this instrument of world solidarity as we move to implement the Millennium Development Goals, especially the overarching goal on halving poverty by 2015," he added.

The Fund, which was one of the outcomes of the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in September, is modelled on the National Solidarity Fund that was set up in Tunisia by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

"In a few short years, the Tunisian National Solidarity Fund helped reduce poverty to around four per cent," Mr. Malloch Brown said. "I am delighted that the United Nations has decided to scale up this innovative mechanism at the world level."