Response Planning

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Response Planning Mobilising Resources
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Humanitarian Financing the basics

• DEMAND
• - agency appeals or joint
• - consolidated appeals (incl Flash Appeals)
• - appeals by NGO umbrella organisations (ex.
  DEC)
• - Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement appeals
• SUPPLY (funding)
• - bilateral donors
• - multilateral donors
• - private sector
• - pooled funds (CERF, CHF, ERF)
• - internal organisational funding (including
  DREF)

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Some challenges with financing

• Competition inconsistent donor policies
• Lack of plurality, diversity complementarity of
  funding
• Need to ensure equitable transparent access to
  funds
• Links between demand supply

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What is the Flash Appeal?

• Strategic humanitarian response plan
• Tool for coordination, planning, and programming
• Outline of priority life-saving needs, within a
  week of emergency onset
• Contains rapid needs assessment information,
  common humanitarian action plan, sectoral
  response plans, projects

• Addresses acute needs for up to 6 months (can
  be incorporated into consolidated appeal if
  emergency continues and needs persist)

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When to issue an appeal?

• Any emergency requiring coordinated
  cross-sectoral
• humanitarian response that
• exceeds the capacity of the affected countrys
  government,
• exceeds the capacity and/or mandate of any one
  organisation
• Affected government may also (formally) request
  international assistance in the form of a flash
  appeal.

www.undp.org/cpr/disred
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Who is involved in the process?

• RC/HC (leading process, with OCHA support)
• UN agencies
• NGOs (international national)
• Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement (ICRC, IFRC,
  national society) different funding mechanisms
  but involved in strategic planning process
• Donors (field office representatives)
• Affected country government, line Ministries, etc
  (appeal is developed in consultation with
  government)

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Indicative timeframe from crisis onset
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Flash Appeal Revision

• Compromise between speed and precision the early
  first edition not based on comprehensive
  information
• The 2nd edition (or revision) is prepared when
  better info is availableusually 4-6 weeks later.
  It may also include more early recovery
  programmes which could not be assessed in time
  for the first edition

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Central Emergency Response Fund

• Established 2005 to enable more predictability,
  reliability, timeliness in humanitarian
  financing (pre-positioned)
• Managed by ERC with assistance from CERF
  Secretariat
• Complements, not substitutes, existing financing
  coordination mechanisms
• A multi-donor trust fund

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Criteria for CERF grants

• All projects funded through the CERF must be for
  life-saving/core emergency humanitarian
  programmes
• Life-saving
• activities that in short time span remedy,
  mitigate or
• avert direct physical harm or threats to a
  population
• can include common humanitarian services
  necessary to enable life-saving activities (e.g.
  air support).
• Time-critical response
• necessary, rapid and time-limited actions
• to minimize additional loss of lives
• rapid injection of resources to
• save lives

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Who can apply for CERF funds?

• UN specialized agencies, operational funds and
  programmes, IOM are eligible
• NGOs cannot receive direct funding from CERF
• All partners should be involved in development of
  CERF requests through joint prioritization of
  needs within cluster/sector coordinated
  arrangements for project implementation
• CERF promotes a field-driven decision-making
  process - HC/RC sets project priorities with
  HCT

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How is CERF funding allocated?

• HC/RC indicates to ERC that CERF request will be
  forthcoming (outlining response needs)
• HC/RC calls together HCT to agree on priority
  projects (cluster lead role critical)
• Projects are compiled into CERF template
  submitted in one application to ERC
• OCHA / CERF Secretariat reviews submissions and
  reverts with questions, clarification as needed
• ERC decides on project approval
• CERF funds are disbursed for agreed projects to
  individual agency headquarters

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Why a CERF and a Flash Appeal

• CERF doesnt replace appeals it interacts with
  them
• Flash appeals and CERF requests should be
  developed in tandem (same contextual background
  strategic response priorities)
• Major emergencies require a strategic plan, not a
  series of disconnected projects
• Most emergencies need more funding than CERF can
  provide
• Most need humanitarian actions that are more
  holistic than those meeting CERFs strict
  life-saving criterion

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Opportunities provided by CERF

• Broadens engagement and partnerships by providing
  incentives for agencies and NGOs to participate
  in coordination tools
• Supports humanitarian reform empowers HC/RC,
  clusters with financing tool
• Enables better field coordination (in new
  emergency CERF prioritisation helps start off on
  the right foot)
• Highlights importance of information management

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Financial Tracking Service (FTS)

• Web-based searchable database of funding
  requirements and contributions
• Tables with breakdowns by donor, sector,
  appealing organisation
• Allows users to produce custom-made tables
• Useful for humanitarians and donors, for
  advocacy, monitoring decision-making
• Useful for Flash Appeal revision, to view funding
  status and review humanitarian strategy as needed
• NB FTS only includes information that is
  reported to OCHA

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Further information atwww.reliefweb.int/fts
online financial tracking database for
humanitarian appealswww.humanitarianappeal.net
repository of all CAPs and flash appeals,
training guides, best practice,
etc.www.cerf.un.org detailed information about
the CERF, procedures and where funding has been
received