Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP)
The Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) is a tool developed by aid organisations in a country or region to raise funds for humanitarian action as well as to plan, implement and monitor their activities together. Consequently, the CAP is much more than an appeal for money.
The CAP is presented to the international community and donors once every year through a launch in Geneva as well as in-country for participating countries. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has the role of managing the CAP development process. Since its establishment in 1992, the CAP has become the humanitarian community's principal tool for coordination, strategic planning and programming. As a planning mechanism, the CAP has contributed significantly to developing a more strategic approach to the provision of humanitarian aid. As a coordination mechanism, the CAP has fostered closer cooperation between governments, donors, aid agencies, the Red Cross Movement and non-governmental organisations.
The Humanitarian Appeal consists of a number of consolidated appeals for specific crises. The organisations that come together to make the yearly Appeal - non-governmental organisations, United Nations agencies, and other international and local organizations - call on the international community to support it quickly and equitably – so that people stricken by crisis receive the best available protection and assistance, on time.
Donors are also changing the way they work, recognizing that humanitarian funding has too often been slow and uneven. The establishment of pooled funds, including the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the Common Humanitarian Funds, and the Emergency Response Funds, have made it possible to quickly disburse funds to any sudden new crisis or to chronic under-funded crises. Since its launch in March 2006, the CERF has disbursed over US$ 1 billion for emergencies in 68 countries affected by natural disasters and complex emergencies. If donors support it up to its target of $450 million per year, it can ensure that no new crisis goes without immediate funding, and that life-saving needs in the most under-funded crises are met.
But donors, just like implementing organisations, need to continue to improve the quality of their funding and the way they work: coordinating among themselves to allocate across crises according to need; supporting consolidated appeals to become the comprehensive measurement of humanitarian funding that they were designed to be; funding sooner rather than later to protect and assist effectively and cost-effectively; and perhaps most important, working with the humanitarian agencies to convince their parliamentarians that the world’s humanitarian funding needs in this Appeal must be fully met.
The 2009 Humanitarian Appeal seeks $8.6 billion [1] to meet the most pressing needs of 30 million people in 31 countries. This may seem like a huge burden to bear for donor countries, but in fact it translates, for every hundred dollars of the rich countries’ national income, to just a few cents of aid – a few cents that can ensure the survival, protection, and well-being of the poorest and most vulnerable people in this world.
CAP - Quick Facts
* ...the CAP is an inclusive and coordinated programme cycle to analyse context, assess needs, and plan prioritized humanitarian response, under the leadership of Humanitarian Coordinators and in close consultation with governments
* ...the IASC Sub-Working Group on the CAP has developed policy and guidance to strengthen the analysis of needs and to prioritize projects
* ...in addition to UN agencies and IOM, 358 NGOs are part of the CAP in 2009
* ...by citing their activities and budgets in appeals, aid agencies can enhance advocacy on behalf of people in need
* ...the Financial Tracking Service enables the aid community -agencies and donors- to be more accountable
* ...in 2008, 72% of the CAP funding requirements were met
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[1] Figure as at 18 March 2009