In a situation of generally declining resources for operational activities for development, the exiguous resources of the United Nations Voluntary Fund on Disability18 had assumed great importance.

Efforts to address capacity-building for equalization of opportunities have mainly proceeded with the support of special funds, such as United Nations Voluntary Fund on Disability, whose exiguous resources have been augmented on a project-specific basis by the intergovernmental Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations Development Organizations (AGFUND).39 This was discussed in the report of the Secretary-General to the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly on the implementation of the World Programme of Action (A/54/388/Add.1), in which he described support to catalytic and innovative action to implement the capacity-building guidance contained in General Assembly resolution 52/82 (para.