A/HRC/7/50 page 5 B. Recommendations adopted by the Board 1. Grants awarded for the period January to December 2008 8. The Board expressed satisfaction with the smooth completion of the change in funding cycle for grantees, pursuant to recommendation 10 of the Office of Internal Oversight Services,2 following its evaluation of the functioning of the Fund. For the first time grants have been allocated for a future period, January to December of the year following applications, enabling organizations to plan their activities more effectively, as the Fund grant would be received at the beginning of the calendar year of implementation of the project. 9. The Board reviewed information prepared by the secretariat concerning 255 projects, including the analysis of narrative, financial and audit reports on the use of grants paid in previous years. It considered 199 requests for new grants amounting to US$ 14,035,172 for projects to be implemented in 2008. 10. The Board recommended that US$ 7,770,500 be paid in January 2008, and US$ 812,200 after its twenty-eighth session in February 2008, upon receipt of satisfactory information by applicants. In addition, in accordance with the guidelines of the Fund, the Board decided to set aside US$ 417,300 to finance projects in priority regions, identified through OHCHR field presences during the intersessional period. 11. The figure below provides information on the distribution of grants per region for the year 2008. The list of organizations subsidized can be found on the webpage of the Fund http://www2.ohchr.org/english/about/funds/torture/. Distribution of grants for the period January to December 2008 Africa $1,205,000.00 14.04% WEOG $4,316,700.00 50.30% Asia $853,500.00 9.94% Grulac $992,500.00 11.56% Eastern Europe $1,215,000.00 14.16% 12. The Board was pleased to note that its efforts to attract suitable applications from organizations working in Africa and Asia and Central Asia resulted in a noticeable increase, over previous years, of projects identified and funded in the above regions in 2008. 2 Ibid.