contributions from Governments; in 2010, it surpassed US$110 million in cumulative contributions from 39 countries, including a wide range of non-traditional donor countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Contributions to UNDEF qualify as Official Development Assistance, and several donors choose to make multi-year commitments. The United States remain the largest donor. Governance As a secretary-General's Trust Fund located within the UN Secretariat, UNDEF falls under the direct authority of the UN Secretary-General. The secretary-general is guided by the UNDEF Advisory Board , which consists of the seven biggest UNDEF donor countries—as of 2010, the United States, India, Japan, Qatar, Germany, Australia and Spain; six States from different regions, chosen for their proven commitment to democracy; two representatives of civil society organizations; and three individuals, including the chair of the board. Since 2007, the chair has been Professor Michael Doyle of Columbia University, a former UN assistant secretary-general for policy planning under secretary-General Kofi Annan. All members serve for a two-year term. Within the UN Secretariat, the UNDEF Programme Consultative Group serves as UN inter-agency mechanism that provides expert advice, including on recommendations for project selection. It comprises the Department of Political Affairs, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Peacebuilding Support Office, the UN Development Programme, the UN Development Fund for Women and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. To ensure low overheads, the UNDEF office is managed by a small team of four professionals, led (since 2007) by Roland Rich of Australia, a former diplomat and director of the Centre for Democratic Institutions at Australian National University. Democracy and the United Nations For the UN, the importance of democracy and of democratic values was first highlighted in the United Nations Charter, as well as in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This in turn has been echoed in a variety of documents – declarations, conventions, covenants, most notably the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which contains binding obligations on States Parties in respect of elections, freedom of expression and association and assembly and other vital democratic entitlements. In the 1990s, a period characterised by important changes in various parts of the world, democracy has also become a theme of a number of international conferences, and major UN organs, including the General Assembly, pronounced themselves on ways to strengthen democracy. This process was matched by increasing operational activities in