Financial Reporting
Financial reports on CERF grants are due twice a year (15 February interim financial reporting and final statements due by 30 June of each year).
Click here for the Income and Expenditures Statement Template.
Narrative Reporting
Following consultations with UN agencies and IOM through the standing inter-agency meetings on CERF, agreement has been reached on the narrative reporting structure for CERF grants.
Both UN agency and IOM headquarters and Resident/Humanitarian Coordinators (RC/HCs) will report on CERF funding received. Reporting at the country and agency levels will offer two perspectives on how CERF made a difference in the agencies’ capacity to respond as well as in the humanitarian community’s timely and coordinated response to a sudden onset, deteriorating or neglected crisis.
This reporting structure meets the reporting requirements of the Secretary-General, ECOSOC, and the General Assembly, which were established to ensure that funds disbursed through the CERF are used in an efficient, effective and transparent manner.
Reporting at headquarters level
At the headquarters level, UN agencies and IOM will be required to submit an annual report in April of each year, which follows the UNDG or agency standard format for reporting. In addition, agencies provide lessons learned on accessing funds from the CERF and analysis on the impact of CERF on the agencies' capacities to respond to rapid crises and to continue underfunded, life-saving activities for the Secretary General's Report on the use of the CERF. Click here for last year's Secretary-General's Report on the CERF.
The Report of the Secretary-General on the use of the CERF - which will be submitted through ECOSOC for the General Assembly in May each year - will focus on how and why decisions were taken on the allocation and use of the CERF. In addition, it will highlight how CERF funds were used to make a difference in humanitarian response at the country and agency levels. With analysis on these levels, the report will serve as a tool in illustrating the usefulness of the CERF in assuring rapid response to new or deteriorating humanitarian crises and in addressing life-saving and core humanitarian activities in underfunded emergencies. Click here for reporting guidance. Please note that this guidance merely serves as a suggested reference.
Agency input to the Report of the Secretary-General is due on 20 April and will be based on results achieved with CERF funding in the previous calendar year (January to December).
Reporting at field level
At the field level, Resident/Humanitarian/Coordinators (RC/HCs), on behalf of humanitarian country teams, will only submit one annual report only for all countries, which benefited from allocations under the Rapid Response or Underfunded Emergencies windows. This report provides a broad overview of the impact of and results achieved with CERF funding on the sectors/clusters of the overall humanitarian response in-country and includes inputs from the concerned agencies on the ground.
For the HC/RC annual narrative reports, please use the template Revised CERF Reporting Matrix for Resident and Humanitarian Coordinators (Word - February 2009). The reports are expected to provide an analysis of the challenges faced when prioritizing needs, project implementation arrangements, results achieved and lessons learned.
The HC/RCs annual report is due on 30 March, covering all the CERF allocations provided to the respective country in the prior calendar year (January-December). Should a project start towards the end of the year, e.g. October/November, it should be reported that the project has started and/or is ongoing, and a preliminary account of the outcome and/or results should be included in the report due in March. A full report of the project would then be expected in the following annual report. A mid-year report is no longer required.
This report should explain and illustrate clearly and concisely how the CERF has fulfilled its objectives to promote early action to reduce loss of life, enhance response to time-critical requirements, and strengthen core elements of humanitarian response in each country that received grant allocations. The report should also include any lessons learned or key challenges faced when accessing the CERF, allowing constant improvement in the CERF’s performance.
The report could be submitted in French or English. Please also bear in mind that the contents of the report may be shared with the CERF Advisory Group and donors. In keeping with the General Assembly’s request for appropriate reporting to maintain accountability, and transparency with respect to the CERF, report contents may be posted on the CERF website and used for other public information purposes. If reports contain sensitive information whose publication would impede the ability of the humanitarian country teams to effectively deliver humanitarian assistance, please be sure to let us know under separate cover.
Please address these reports to the CERF Secretariat (cerf@un.org).
Deadlines
Agency headquarters:
20 April: Agency headquarters' annual narrative report
Humanitarian country teams:
30 March: Humanitarian/Resident Coordinators annual narrative report.
[Last update: 17 March 2008]