As agreed by IACA’s constituency, the organization’s general budget is meant to serve as the key framework for its finances. It provides for the maintenance of the organization’s daily operations, the expansion of its constituency, the establishment of a research platform, the provision of trainings and other activities of the highest quality, and the attraction of the best-qualified faculty members. On the same note, IACA’s general budget is to support and ensure the implementation of the organization’s Work Programmes, including its current Work Programme 2021 – 2024 (adopted by Resolution AOP9-Res-1 of 30 November 2020).

Contributions to the general budget should also be taken note of in light of Resolution AOP3-Res-1, unanimously adopted by the third session of the Assembly of Parties on 20 November 2014, which recognizes that the capacity-building activities provided by IACA “further contribute to the achievements of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations Development Agenda beyond 2015”. In a similar vein, IACA’s capacity-building activities and specialized curricula in the field of anti-corruption are, along with those of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), explicitly noted with appreciation in Resolution 29/11 of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations General Assembly, adopted on 2 July 2015, in recognizing that the negative impact of corruption on human rights and sustainable development can be combated through anti-corruption education.

Voluntary contributions by the Parties are mentioned as a core element for IACA’s financing under the aforementioned Article XI.(1).a of the IACA Agreement. What is more, in recalling the consensus of the Academy’s constituency reflected in the Financial Framework of IACA, adopted by the Provisional Commission on 21 September 2012 and endorsed by the first session of the Assembly of Parties on 29 November 2012, “voluntary contributions shall preferably include contributions to the general budget of the Academy”; as also stipulated by the same framework, “special emphasis shall be given on the provision of a suitably well-defined general budget allocation”. This was echoed by Resolution AOP1-Res-3 of 29 November 2012, Resolution AOP2-Res-2 of 11 December 2013, and Resolution AOP3-Res-1 of 20 November 2014, respectively - all of which were unanimously adopted by the Assembly of Parties - in “strongly encouraging all Parties and Signatories, donors from the public and private sector, and the international community to support the Academy’s resources in accordance with the relevant policies and guidelines (on a voluntary basis), taking into due account that special emphasis shall be given to the provision of a suitably well-funded general budget allocation, allowing the Academy to pursue its mission and objectives and to maintain its integrity and independence”.

The financial ownership of the organization is a shared responsibility among all its stakeholders. Notwithstanding the fact that contributions by Parties are voluntary, Parties are also invited to consider alternative ways of fundraising, such as the ones outlined in Strategic Objective Four of Resolution AOP2-Res-1 and other relevant documents. Furthermore, in line with the Baku Declaration unanimously adopted on 20 November 2014, the international community, including States, International Organizations, and all other stakeholders is called on to “favourably consider the possibility of rendering financial support to IACA and engaging in fund-raising activities for the organization”.

It needs to be noted that the formal budgets 2014, 2015, and 2016, adopted by the Assembly of Parties in Bangkok, Baku, and Vienna, respectively, are thus to be seen as aspirational budgets only, outlining the agreed resource requirements of the organization to become self-sustainable in the long-term perspective. The actual general budget contributions are listed below.

IACA is sincerely grateful to all the states and other donors that have contributed financially to the Academy up to now and all those that will do so pro futuro.