A/HRC/13/75 Netherlands 1 120 000.00 2 March 2009 United States of America 7 100 000.00 17 August 2009 Total pledges 8 347 887.24 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-ninth session of the Board of Trustees, held in October 2008, and the thirty-first session of the Board, held in October 2009, 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 thirty-first session, the Board reviewed information prepared by its secretariat concerning 240 projects, including the analysis of narrative, financial and audit reports on the use of grants paid in previous years. It considered requests for new grants amounting to $18,370,674 for more than 170 ongoing and 30 new projects, as well as for 15 training sessions and seminars to be implemented in 2010. 9. The Board of Trustees made recommendations for grants for the period from January to December 2010 for over 200 projects in more than 70 countries, for a total amount of $11,809,050, after deduction of the programme support cost and the operating cash reserve. The High Commissioner approved the recommendations on 3 November 2009 on behalf of the Secretary-General. 10. The Board recommended that $9,864,350 be paid in January 2010 and $1,944,700 be disbursed after its thirty-second session in February 2010, upon receipt of satisfactory information by applicants. In addition, the Board decided to set aside $250,000 for emergency and intersessional requests for 2010, in particular for projects located in priority regions (Africa, Central Asia and Asia) identified by OHCHR field presences. 11. In accordance with recommendation 3 of the Office of Internal Oversight Services in its report 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 $276,100 to 15 organizations for training sessions to be organized in 13 countries in 2010. 12. Further information on the activities of the Fund, including detailed information on, inter alia, the distribution of grants by region, policy decisions, meetings of the Board with Member States and relevant actors in the field of assistance to victims of torture, will be available after the thirty-second session of the Board, to be held from 1 to 3 February 2010. 4 GE.09-17429