The CERF Partnership Taskforce was established as an ad-hoc working group in June 2007.
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. This will be done through the development of recommendations to accelerate the allocation process in order to ensure that all humanitarian actors are involved in the prioritization of needs and the decision-making process for the allocation of funding. This would ensure that CERF is used in the most effective way.
Christian Children's Fund, InterAction, ICVA, Save the Children, IMC, Oxfam, OFADEC, WFP, UNICEF, UNHCR, FAO, WHO, and UNDP participate in the taskforce.
The Partnership Taskforce was created as a result of an inter-agency meeting on the CERF in early June 2007, which in turn followed the IASC Working Group meeting in March 2007 where it was agreed “to further discuss issues and concerns raised by NGOs in the administration of the CERF, particularly the need for timely access.” Click here to read more about CERF and the IASC.
CERF guidelines encourage Humanitarian/Resident Coordinators (HC/RCs) to engage in broad participation of all humanitarian actors on the ground, including NGOs, in the prioritization of needs and the development of grant requests. Furthermore, CERF guidelines emphasize that NGOs should be included in the delivery of assistance funded by CERF as their flexibility allows them to go to hard to reach areas to assist those most in need. The CERF Secretariat has requested information from the HC for each grant request package regarding the efforts taken to ensure transparency and inclusiveness of the process.
NGOs have been included in field-based CERF training sessions in Dakar and Nairobi and the recent headquarters training in Geneva and Rome. Future training sessions in Africa, Middle East, and Asia will also include NGO participation.
[Last Update: 4 September 2007]
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