A/HRC/10/40 page 4 Donors Turkey United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland United States of America Total contributions Pledges Canada Spain Total pledges Amount (in United States dollars) 10 000.00 99 403.58 6 943 300.00 11 397 547.59 48 504.00 439 238.65 487 742.65 Date of receipt 29 August 2008 11 March 2008 29 September 2008 22 October 2008 7 October 2008 6. The amount available for distribution to projects was calculated after deducting programme support costs, operating cash reserve and expenditure for non-grant activities from the total amount of funds made available in the form of contributions received between the twenty-seventh session of the Board of Trustees, held in October 2007, and the twenty-ninth session of the Board, held in October 2008, and the operating cash reserve of the previous cycle. 7. In accordance with United Nations financial regulations, programme support costs will be charged to the Trust Fund at the rate of 13 per cent of total annual expenditure. In addition, the United Nations requires that an operating cash reserve of 15 per cent of annual estimated expenditure be maintained to cover exchange rate fluctuation, any shortfalls and to meet final expenditure, including any liquidating liabilities. The operating cash reserve will be left unallotted and carried forward from year to year, until required. Expenditure for non-grant activities include travel expenditure for Board members, expenditure for monitoring and evaluation of projects by United Nations staff and technical assistance for the further development of the grant management system. B. Recommendations adopted by the Board 8. At its twenty-ninth session, the Board of Trustees made recommendations for grants for the period from January to December 2009 for 195 projects in more than 65 countries, for a total amount of $10,200,950, after deduction of the programme support cost and the operating cash reserve. The High Commissioner for Human Rights approved the recommendations on 27 October 2008 on behalf of the Secretary-General. 9. In spite of the limited resources available, and in accordance with recommendation 3 of the Office of Internal Oversight Services on the evaluation of the Fund (E/CN.4/2005/55, para. 76), the Board continued its practice of financing training and seminars, thus allowing health professionals, social workers, lawyers and other service providers to exchange experiences and develop new strategies to address the needs of torture victims. The Board recommended an allocation of $136,400 to nine organizations for training sessions to be organized in seven countries in 2009.