A/HRC/23/16 I. Introduction A. Background 1. The United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights, established by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 1987/83, receives voluntary contributions from Governments, organizations and individuals. The objective of the Fund is to provide financial support for international cooperation aimed at building up and strengthening national and regional institutions and infrastructures that will have long-term impact on improved implementation of international human rights standards. 2. The Board of Trustees has been operational since 1993 and its members are appointed by the Secretary-General for a three-year renewable term. The mandate of the Board is to assist the Secretary-General in streamlining and rationalizing the working methods and procedures of the technical cooperation programme. It meets twice a year and reports on its work to the Secretary-General and the Human Rights Council. Current members are Sozar Subari (Georgia), Fatima Mbaye (Mauritania), Mariclaire Acosta Urquidi (Mexico), Christopher Sidoti (Australia) and Deepika Udagama (Sri Lanka). Ms. Acosta was appointed to the Board in June 2012, replacing Cecilia Medina. Ms. Udagama was chairperson of the Board from April 2012 until April 2013. The Board elected Mr. Sidoti to succeed her as chairperson from April 2013. B. Mandate 3. In 2004, the Board of Trustees refocused its attention from more detailed review of individual projects to advising the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on policy orientation and strategy in strengthening its technical cooperation programme in the field of human rights. Since then, instead of focusing on smaller projects, the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation has funded the work of OHCHR field presences given that many of those activities fall within the area of technical cooperation. This broader definition of technical cooperation, agreed by the Board of Trustees, was presented to Member States and reported in the annual report of the Secretary-General submitted to the Human Rights Council.1 4. The Board has been advised that the above-mentioned approach is highly appreciated by the High Commissioner in that it increases the flexibility of OHCHR when responding to requests by States for field services. It furthers the inclusion of technical cooperation as an integral part of the OHCHR strategic planning process. The Board has been determined to ensure that the High Commissioner has access to the experience, expertise and wisdom of the Board members and so it has expanded the opportunities for the Board as a whole and Board members individually to offer strategic and other advice to OHCHR at the global and regional levels that could support the technical cooperation provided by its 57 field presences, including stand-alone presences, such as the country offices and regional offices, or through collaborative arrangements, such as the assistance of human rights advisers for United Nations country teams or human rights components of United Nations peacekeeping missions. The recent practice of the Board Members of undertaking visits to OHCHR field presences to learn from their experience on the ground 1 A/HRC/16/66. 3