The Office for Disarmament Affairs, through its Conventional Arms Branch is engaged in two funds that focus specifically on conventional arms: the United Nations Trust Facility Supporting Cooperation on Arms Reduction (UNSCAR, established in 2013) and the Saving Lives Entity (SALIENT, which was established in 2020, further to the Secretary-General’s 2018 Agenda for Disarmament).

In spite of a shared substantive focus, the two funds approach the challenges raised by conventional arms from differing, but complementary, perspectives. UNSCAR, administered directly by UNODA, provides support for short-term, limited budget projects with an immediate impact. Such work could range from emergency assistance for stockpile management to sub-regional capacity-building workshops to direct support for civil society efforts.

SALIENT, conversely, aims to provide sustainable, multi-dimensional programming, with a particular emphasis on mainstreaming small-arms-control at the field level in the context of sustaining peace and sustainable development. A product of joint partnership with UNDP, SALIENT is located within the Peacebuilding Fund and activities funded through this mechanism must flow from a proposal made by at least two UN agencies, jointly with the host government and in coordination with the Resident Coordinator’s Office.

SALIENT’s multi-year holistic approach, combined with UNSCAR’s flexible, quick impact activities, serve an important role in ensuring that the diversity of conventional arms challenges is reflected through a diversity in available funding pools to address those challenges.

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