FUNDING The forty-ninth session was held at the Regional Office for Southern Africa, in Pretoria, and included a visit to the UN Human Rights technical cooperation project in Mozambique. Through these sessions, Board members observed the work of UN Human Rights field presences, evaluated their cooperation with partners on the ground and convened discussions with the staff members of UN Human Rights on the status of the implementation of technical cooperation programmes, funding trends and key challenges and opportunities for the Fund. The Board recognized the efficacy of the strategy employed by UN Human Rights to expand its regional presence, including by setting up specific technical cooperation projects, for example in Mozambique. It also highlighted how the Regional Office for Southern Africa strengthened its thematic capacities and leveraged its technical expertise to establish the trust that is needed to gather the evidence-based information that is in turn used to advise State entities and other key actors on the development of effective responses, policies and programmes. More specifically, this enabled the Office to provide enhanced thematic expertise on economic, social and cultural rights and the protection of women’s rights, with a specific focus on violence against women. In Mozambique, the Office and national partners worked to build trust and offer safe spaces for dialogue and collaborative work to support positive change on the ground. Working closely with the UN Country Team (UNCT) in response to Tropical Cyclone Idai, the Office ensured that human rights were integrated into humanitarian action, thereby enabling actions to address the risk of persons with disabilities and older persons being left behind. The Board acknowledged that the areas identified by UN Human Rights as frontier issues and spotlight populations served to concretize new areas of support through technical cooperation, which addresses identified needs on the ground. The Board paid increased attention to the issue of corruption and the profound impact it has on the enjoyment of human rights. It also recognized the work of the Office in exploring the dimensions of corruption and its impact on the enjoyment of human rights, which was incorporated into UN Human Rights’ training and capacity-building initiatives and policy dialogues. As of 31 December, the Fund had received a total of US$17,208,002 in pledges and contributions, compared to US$18,789,565 in 2018. The total expenditure of the Fund in 2019 amounted to US$15,498,086 compared to US$13,294,808 in 2018. In 2019, the Fund provided resources for technical cooperation programmes designed to build a strong human rights framework at the national level in 45 regions, countries and territories through 34 Human Rights Advisers/ human rights mainstreaming projects in Argentina, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Guyana, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Montenegro, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, Rwanda, Serbia, the South Caucasus region (Georgia), Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Zimbabwe; seven human rights components of peace operations in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Libya, Somalia and the Sudan (Darfur); and four Country/Stand-alone Offices in Chad, Mauritania, Mexico and the State of Palestine. In 2019, emphasis was placed on supporting the efforts of States on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. With the support of the Fund, UN Human Rights continued to facilitate national efforts to incorporate international human rights standards into national laws, policies and practices, with a focus on the follow-up to recommendations issued by international human rights mechanisms. The Fund also contributed to the establishment and strengthening of national structures, institutions and capacities to ensure adherence to those standards and the development by UN Human Rights of online mechanisms to facilitate follow-up to the recommendations issued by international human rights mechanisms. In addition, with support from the Fund, UN Resident Coordinators and UNCTs continued to strengthen their human rights capacities. The Board welcomed the partnership between UN Human Rights and the UN Sustainable Development Group, which will ensure that the UN Resident Coordinators and UNCTs are well equipped with knowledge, experience and expertise on human rights to better support States. The Board also recognized the contribution of the expanded deployment of Human Rights Advisers to ensure that all United Nations programming processes are rooted in human rights and reflect the vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2019 113