A/HRC/37/79 5. Following the advice of the Board within its mandate, the Office continues to strengthen the strategic use of the resources under the two voluntary funds to maximize their impact, especially in the areas of capacity-building and advisory services on the ground. The efforts of the Office to enhance the complementarities of the voluntary funds in support of fuller and more effective integration of accepted recommendations as an integral part of United Nations programme tools on the ground are very much encouraged by the Board and welcomed by all Resident Coordinators with whom the Board has met during its visits to the field. The Board has observed how United Nations presences in country are increasingly engaged through collaborative arrangements in supporting State efforts to follow up on recommendations from the international human rights mechanisms. The Board is of the view that the technical support provided over the last five years in establishing e-tools for systematizing the recommendations and follow-up actions are crucial to ensuring coherent and effective in-country support for implementation of those recommendations. The tools are also proving useful for incorporating the recommendations when developing common country assessments and subsequent United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks. 6. Throughout 2017, the Board had a number of opportunities to engage with the Office and its partners on the relevance of the technical cooperation programmes in the context of the preparations of the new programming cycle for the period 2018–2021. During its two annual sessions, both in Geneva and in the places where the Office has a presence, OHCHR regional consultations and through written submissions, the members of the Board have contributed to the development of the next four-year programme for OHCHR. The Board shared with the Office the lessons learned and experiences gathered over the last four years on the situation on the ground and its findings on the relevance of the technical cooperation programmes, the efficiency and effectiveness of programme delivery and the impact and sustainability of the results achieved. The Board understands that the inputs it provided through this process have been received as an invaluable contribution to better understanding the type of technical cooperation OHCHR is best placed to offer. From the information shared throughout this programming process the Board has also been able to observe how its contributions have been taken into account. In line with its mandate, in which the Board is requested to promote and solicit contributions and pledges to the voluntary funds, a number of outreach events have been organized jointly during the period under review by the OHCHR External Outreach Service and the Board to share experiences and views from the Board on the programmes of the Office on the ground, including sharing good practices and lessons learned in the area of technical cooperation. The Board received positive feedback following the organization of those events, which are facilitating better knowledge of the partnerships between the Office and States and the results therefrom. 7. In its resolution 36/28, the Human Rights Council noted with appreciation the contribution of the Board, in particular to the components of good technical cooperation programmes. The Board very much welcomes this acknowledgement and the discussions with the Board during the sessions of the Human Rights Council, which continue to advance a wider understanding of the results achieved, with the support of the Office, in partnerships with State institutions and civil society on the ground. In the resolution, the Chair of the Board was invited to present the annual report on the work of the Board to the Council at its thirty-seventh session in March 2018, rather than at its June session, as originally requested by the Council in its resolution 18/18. That change, piloted in 2016 and now confirmed for the coming years, facilitates enhanced coordination of the sessions of the Board with those of the Council and the alignment of the annual report of the Board with the fiscal year, so as to provide the most up-to-date information. II. Activities of the Voluntary Fund and the Board of Trustees 8. The Board of Trustees of the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights held its forty-fourth session in Geneva from 21 to 24 March 2017 and its forty-fifth session in the regional office for the Middle East and North Africa in Beirut from 24 to 27 October 2017, with a smaller number of members visiting the OHCHR Office in 4