A/HRC/43/68 B. Measuring the results of technical cooperation and the response of the Office of the High Commissioner 47. The Board continues to benefit from the reports and information provided and facilitated through the OHCHR performance monitoring system and the continuous efforts by the Office to ensure a consistent process of evaluation and assessments of its programmes, drawing lessons learned and applying them to strengthen the overall OHCHR programme. The Board has noted the remarkable achievements made by the Office in the implementation of its evaluation function and culture, which is now fully institutionalized and its value fully understood across programmes. The Board has also observed how its views and policy advice have been taken into account in the evaluation plans and how evaluations and assessments are enhancing the strategic quality of support on the ground. The Board welcomes the interest of the OHCHR services in charge of the evaluation functions in learning and taking into account the Board’s views and advice when undertaking evaluations and internal assessments. 48. The Board has benefited from the discussions with the various teams on the status of implementation of the strategy on the management plan of the Office for the period 2018– 2021, which is aimed at investing in transforming and enhancing the way in which it operates in line with its trajectory as a fully results-based entity. The Board appreciates in particular the actions taken to foster innovation and to ensure dynamic knowledge initiatives in 2019. IV. Status of funding and donors 49. At its forty-eighth session, in Geneva, and its forty-ninth session, in South Africa, the Board was provided with updates on the overall financial status of the Voluntary Fund. It discussed and analysed the status of implementation of the workplan for the Voluntary Fund for 2019. It endorsed the plans for 2020, at its meeting in South Africa. An analysis of funding trends between 2008 and 2019 (see annex I) continued to show a slight increase in 2019. The increase is a good reflection of the strategic vision and enhanced capacity to communicate, as well as the crucial results achieved in supporting States. However, increased financial resources are still very much needed, in particular unearmarked funds providing the Office with the flexibility and predictability needed for stability and to expand as needed in view of the demands of the human rights presences and programmes on the ground. 50. The total expenditure of the Voluntary Fund as at 31 December 2019 was $15,538,451. The cost plan increase in 2019, as well as the slight increase in contributions, are due to the increase in voluntary contributions received by the Office in 2019, in particular related to the expansion of the coverage of the human rights advisers deployed under the United Nations Sustainable Development Group strategy launched in 2012. As at 31 December 2019, the Fund had received a total of $17,540,670 in pledges and contributions, including interest and investment income. The Fund once again has broken the deficit that previously had to be covered by its reserves (according to the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations, trust funds must ensure a reserve of 15 per cent of projected expenditure). Although the level of contributions tightly earmarked to specific projects, rather than to technical cooperation work of the Office, has resulted in a slight increase of available funding, that does not address the degree of flexibility required to ensure adequate coverage of programmes across regions. 51. The Voluntary Fund provided resources for technical cooperation programmes designed to build strong human rights frameworks at the national level in 45 regions, countries and territories, through 34 human rights advisers and human rights mainstreaming projects, in Argentina, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, the Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Montenegro, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and the South Caucasus region (Georgia); 7 human rights components of peace missions, in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, 12