RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/BFA/W/45
15 May 2000
(00-1989)
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR
The experience of other International Organizations
1. This report contains some summary information on the experience of other international
organizations in seeking and accepting voluntary contributions from the private sector. It is basedlargely on public information provided by these othe r organizations, available in the form of official
regulations and rules, leaflets, booklets, or on their web sites. Most of this material is available to the
Secretariat. Members are welcome to obtain copies of the underlying material from the Secretariat or
by contacting the organizations concerned.
International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
2. ITU amended its constitution in 1992 to accept voluntary contributions and is currently
exploring charging fees for its services.  Voluntary contributions refer to funds from private
corporations.  These are mainly telecommunication companies.  ITU does not receive any moneyfrom private foundations. Voluntary contributions are mainly for funding conferences, meetings and
seminars, as well as expert services, training services, fellowships, equipment or any other related
services or requirements.  Contributions are usually made on a joint-funding basis, i.e., ITU will fund
a certain percentage of the project and the private corporation the rest.
3. The precise terms and conditions governing voluntary contributions or trust funds are agreed
upon between the parties and this may take the form of  a formal agreement or an exchange of letters.
Guiding these agreements are ITU' s Rules, Procedures and Financial Arrangements for Voluntary
Contributions and Trust Funds .  Two main conditions are stipulated, namely:
"1. a) The Secretary-General may accept voluntary contributions in cash or kind
provided that the conditions attached to such contributions are consistent with
the purposes of the Union and in conformity with these Regulations.
b) The Secretary-General may equally accept trust funds for the execution of
specific programmes or projects."
4. In addition, the guidelines state that, "Voluntary contributions must not be used in place of the
Ordinary budget…" with the exception of the "..income foreseen to cover wholly or partly the support
costs related to the implementation of technical cooperation programmes and projects".  The decisionon implementing any programme, project or supplementary activity under voluntary contributions or
trust funds rests with the Secretary-General.
5. Some examples:
(a) "WorldTel", created to boost telecommunications in developing countries, completed
its first major project in 1997: a partnership with Telefonia Inalambrica del Norte(Telinor) and Bell Canada International to market local telephone services in Mexico.
WorldTel and BCI invested US$250 million in Telinor, the first company allowed to
compete with the Mexican telephone monopoly. The project is designed to spurWT/BFA/W/45
Page 2
economic development in Mexico, deploy an advanced telecommunications
infrastructure, provide world-class service for Mexico and create several thousand
new jobs.
(b) "WorldNet", created as part of the UN's plans to lay up to 50 million telephone lines
in developing countries over the next decade, competes directly with private telecom
groups. It is now independent of the ITU and UN, but receives the full support of
both. It is currently seeking out major projects in Asia, Latin America and Africa and
aims to provide a conduit between developed and developing countries by providing
funding, technology and management training.
World Health Organization (WHO)
6. WHO prepared draft guidelines on the acceptance of private donations in 1988, but this was
never adopted because the issue was considered to be too controversial for a regulatory organization
with risks of conflicts of interests.  Every offer was thus scrutinized from the angle of such conflicts.
Nevertheless, despite these concerns the WHO has collaborated with the private sector in a variety
ways, including the exchange of information, product research and development, and in generating
cash for the WHO.
7. The WHO has recently developed a set of new draft rules: the WHO Guidelines on Interaction
with Commercial Enterprises , of July 1999.
8. These WHO draft guidelines are quite specific and attach many conditions on the receipt of
private donations.  These specify the type of enterprises which money can be received from, the
amount received, the purpose of the donation, the secondment of staff, and the criteria and procedures
for evaluating proposals. Broadly speaking, the WHO divides private donors into the following
2 categories:
(a) funds are acceptable from commercial enterprises whose activities are unrelated to the work
of the WHO (eg. banks, insurance companies, airlines, etc), provided this would not adversely
reflect on the WHO;  and
(b) funds are acceptable from commercial enterprises whose activities are related to the work of
the WHO, provided they are not in contravention of the guidelines;
9. Funds are not accepted from commercial enterprises whose activities are not compatible with
WHO's objectives (eg. tobacco producers and arm manufacturers).  The amount of overall funds
raised must not be so large that the programme would become dependent on such support from a
single company or group of enterprises.  WHO main tains full control over the activity to which any
contribution relates.  Contact between a commercial enterprise and WHO may be initiated by either
party.  Each WHO Department may, in accordance with the guidelines, decide whether the proposedarrangement is acceptable. Should there be any uncertainty, the matter should be referred to the Legal
Counsel.  If the proposal is considered acceptable, it will be put to the Committee on Private Sector
Collaboration for approval.
10. Some examples:
(a) WHO has had extensive interaction with the commercial sector since the 1970s in
support of its Expanded Programme on Immunization. More recently, most of the
world's major private vaccine producers are working closely with WHO's Vaccine
Supply and Quality Unit. Its Global Programme for Vaccines and Immunization
maintains contacts with approximately 150 commercial companies to provide
guidance to procurement officers for immunization supplies and primary health careWT/BFA/W/45
Page 3
equipment. These programmes are largely supported by outside funds — over the
past few years, primarily from the private sector. Rotary International provided $20
million in 1996-1997 alone.
(b) Every year the composition of influenza vaccine is modified, based on data from a
worldwide network of collaborating labor atories for influenza surveillance. WHO
advises vaccine manufacturers on the composition of the next season's vaccine — a
long-standing collaboration between private and public sectors in the interest of
public health.
WHO also works with the pharmaceutical industry to expand drug research.
Collaboration with certain companies has resulted in significant achievements in the
development of drugs for controlling tropical diseases.
The Food and Agriculture Organization
11. The FAO has a long tradition of working with the private sector, both in agricultural research
and trade. Since the 1996 World Food Summit, which recognized the important role of the privatesector in realizing essential food security goals, the FAO has been operating a policy of partnership
with the private sector. The broad outline of  that policy is laid down in the booklet " Principles and
Guidelines for FAO cooperation with the Private Sector". It is not necessary here to sketch out the
details of that policy; it suffices to note that accepting, even seeking financial support from private
enterprises, commercial companies or individuals, is part of the policy of partnership.
12. The policy for accepting such contributions from private sources has been given shape by a
number of stringent guidelines The first of these is: Contributions should not be sought or accepted
from any contributor whose policies run contrary to the mandate of the Organization or if association
with the contributor would be liable to cause embarassment to the organization. Another important
rule is that the Organization must always maintain and be seen to maintain its impartiality and never
be influenced in its policies by the acceptance of any contribution. This is, of course, of particular
importance, for the FAO in the field of agricultural research and such issues as the GMO crops.
Furthermore, contributions should be acknowledge d, but FAO must never appear to be endorsing a
contributor or its products.
13. Finally, the FAO operates strict rules on clearance of the contributions from the private sector
(clearance should be obtained from Assistant Director-General for Technical Co-operation, after
consultation with the Legal Counsel and the Office of the Director-General), on the following of the
normal financial procedures of the organization (a ssessment of the worth of the contribution by the
finance division and check that contributions do not entail additional financial obligations) and on the
conclusion of a written agreement with the donor (which may be made in the form of a normal
exchange of letters).
14. The FAO has also developed strict rules on the use of the official FAO emblem by outsiders,
viz. on condition that it is used only for non-commercial purposes, that it is in the interest of the
organization and that the FAO retains control over the activity for which the emblem is used. Again
there are strict rules for clearance of the use of the official emblem (through the Legal Counsel).
15. There are also rules in the FAO on co-sponsorship, patronage and other forms of FAO
involvement in meetings and events.
The World Bank
16. The World Bank has been accepting private donations for several years, initially from entities
registered as NGOs, and subsequently through the establishment of trust funds. In 1998, the Bank had
more than 1000 trust funds.  The Bank attaches  3 conditions: retention of decisional authority overWT/BFA/W/45
Page 4
the use of the money;  advancement of the Bank's interests and objectives;  and no preferential
treatment for donors in procurement.  Work is underway to elaborate regulations covering fund
raising activities by individual staff members.  The Bank also considered charging fee-based services
to private companies, but this was opposed on the grounds that it would not compatible with the
objectives of the Bank and could compromise its tax-exempt status in the US.
17. Some examples:
(a) Through the Business Partners for Development (BPD) special initiative, the
World Bank has contributions in kind from many private companies and non-
governmental organizations.  These incl ude: Anglo American, British Petroleum-
Amoco, BHP, Canadian Occidental, CARE International, Chevron, Integrated CoalMining Private Ltd, Mobil Oil, Norsk Hydr o, Petroleos de Venezuela, Phelps Dodge,
Placer Dome, Rio Tinto, Shell International, WMC Resources Ltd., Aguas de
Barcelona, Anglian Water, Générale des Eaux (Vivendi), DFID, Hydro-Conseil,
International Water Ltd., Mvula Trust, Northumbrian Water, Programme Solidarité
Eau, Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux, Thames Water, Unicef, WaterAid, and many others
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
18. Last year, UNCTAD held a meeting, Partners for Development , in Lyon, France involving
governments, the private sector, academia and NGOs,.  One of the objectives of this meeting was toencourage the private sector to either support or jointly implement UNCTAD programmes.  As a
result of the meeting, projects in partnership with the private sector and also with governments were
launched in the areas of  electronic commerce, transport, bio-trade, microfinance, human resource
development, investment, commodity risk management and structured finance. 18 partnership
agreements which took the form of Memoranda of Understanding were finalized between theUNCTAD Secretariat and private and public organizations.
19. In view of this meeting, UNCTAD is currently developing guidelines on the way in which
NGOs and private companies interested in becoming its partner should be selected.  It also hopes to
clarify the legal issues involved in the operation of these partnerships and to establish a general
framework to replace the current case-by-case approach.   At the same time, UNCTAD is reviewing
its administrative procedures in order to make private sector funding of its activities easier.
However, some of these changes are unlikely to be able to implemented at the level of UNCTAD, asthey would involve a change of UN rules and regulations.   In this regard, in 1998 a meeting of UN
Legal Advisers discussed guidelines on private donations and will continue to exchange views on this
area.
20. An example:
(a) In the partnership on a "Legal Framework for Electronic Commerce", law firms
Baker & McKenzie, Deloitte & Touche, KPMG and the network of regulated law
firms cooperating with Price Waterhouse C oopers have agreed to assist developing
countries on a no cost basis to carry out preparatory work to adapt their legislation tothe needs of electronic commerce.
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)
21. UNHCR has not done much fundraising from the private sector and does not have guidelines
on private sector contributions. Presently, most  private donations received by UNHCR are from
individuals in response to crises and not from private sector foundations or corporations.  Total
private donations in 1999 are estimated at US $27.5 million (a lot of money was received following
the Kosovo crisis). UNHCR has many NGO partners in the field and it is concerned with possibleWT/BFA/W/45
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conflicts of interest.  Some of its NGO partners would not be in favour of UNHCR receiving money
from the private sector. d Of the money which has been received from the private sector, these have
been used to fund development projects, such as the building of a clinic in an African country.  From
UNHCR's experience, private sector donations have  come with few conditions attached.  The main
concern of the givers has been to obtain visibility for acting in a socially responsible manner.UNHCR has no experience of fundraising from foundations.
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