As per the Secretary-General’s bulletin of 10 October 2006 on the establishment and operation of the Central Emergency Response Fund (ST/SGB/2006/10), the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) regularly consults with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee established pursuant to General Assembly resolution 46/182 and the resident/humanitarian coordinators, as appropriate, on matters relating to the utilization of the funds in order to obtain guidance and support when determining priorities for their use.

At the IASC Working Group meeting in March 2007, it was agreed that members of the inter-agency meetings on CERF will periodically identify policy issues for the agendas of the IASC Working Group as part of the management and operation of the Fund.

Consultation with members of the Inter-agency Working Group on the CERF regularly takes place through inter-agency meetings, which are facilitated by the CERF Secretariat. CERF eligible partners - UN agencies, funds, and programmes and IOM – as well as the three NGO consortia have standing invitations to these meetings. Inter-agency meetings on CERF usually take place twice a month, providing a consistent forum for inter-agency consultations on the development of CERF procedures and the management and use of the Fund. 

Key achievements reached through these inter-agency meetings include the finalization of the guidelines on CERF Life-saving Criteria and Sectoral Activities, the narrative reporting framework and the procedures for allocating funds for underfunded emergencies. These meetings have also served as a useful forum for the discussion of pertinent issues related to the CERF, including allocations from the rapid response and under-funded windows, upcoming CERF training sessions and advocacy efforts, lessons learned from the development and/or the processing of grant requests, and Advisory Group meeting outcomes.

In June 2007, a CERF Partnership Taskforce was established as an ad-hoc working group. The objective of the CERF Partnership Taskforce is to review procedures for CERF partnership arrangements between UN agencies and implementing partners with an aim to improve the timeliness and predictability of CERF disbursements. Click here to read more.

[Last Update: 5 September 2007]

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The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) is a unique inter-agency forum for coordination, policy development and decision-making involving the key UN and non-UN humanitarian partners.

The IASC was established in June 1992 in response to United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/182 on the strengthening of humanitarian assistance. General Assembly Resolution 48/57 affirmed its role as the primary mechanism for inter-agency coordination of humanitarian assistance.

Under the leadership of the Emergency Relief Coordinator, the IASC develops humanitarian policies, agrees on a clear division of responsibility for the various aspects of humanitarian assistance, identifies and addresses gaps in response, and advocates for effective application of humanitarian principles. Click here to read more about the IASC.

IASC Principals are the heads of all IASC member agencies or their representatives. They meet twice a year in conferences chaired by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mr. John Holmes, usually in April and December. For urgent matters, the IASC Principals can schedule ad hoc meetings. Click here for schedule and documents related to the IASC Principals Meetings.

The IASC Working Group is composed of the directors of the Emergency Programmes of the IASC agencies or their equivalent counterparts. It meets in regular intervals three times a year, usually in March, June / July, and November alternating between Rome, Geneva and New York for two and half days, hosted by IASC agencies on a rotational basis. Click here for work plans and progress reports of the IASC Working Group.

IASC Subsidiary Bodies assist in developing policy or operational guidelines for humanitarian assistance.

Sub-Working Groups include the Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP), Emergency Telecommunications, Gender and Humanitarian Action, Preparedness and Contingency Planning. There is also a Contact Group on Good Humanitarian Donorship and Task Forces on HIV in Humanitarian Situations, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, Safe Access to Firewood and Alternative Energy in Humanitarian Settings.

[Last Update: 29 August 2007]

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Humanitarian Response Review (2005)
IASC Terms of Reference (1998)