Grants from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) are made for two general purposes: (a) for rapid response to sudden onset emergencies or rapidly deteriorating conditions in an existing emergency and (b) to support activities within existing humanitarian response efforts in underfunded emergencies. One-third of the CERF grant facility is earmarked for underfunded emergencies.
On a bi-annual basis, the Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) invites countries that have been selected to apply for funding from the underfunded emergencies window of CERF. The ERC selects countries based on funding data captured by the Financial Tracking Service (www.reliefweb.int/fts), recommendations from UN agencies, inter-agency consultation, and discussions with UN Humanitarian/Resident Coordinators (HC/RCs), as required. This decision-making process is elaborated in the paper, CERF Procedures for Grant Allocations to Underfunded Emergencies (PDF - last update Janauary 2008), which serves as the policy basis for allocating funds to underfunded crises.
The ERC informs the relevant HC/RCs of the level of funds available for each country and invites the HC/RCs to provide him with projects for funding of life-saving activities. HC/RCs, with support from the humanitarian country team (UN agencies, IOM, NGOs), identify gaps in the current humanitarian response, set priorities and determine which humanitarian projects should be proposed for funding.
While NGOs can not apply directly for CERF funds, they should be included in the process at two levels: (1) NGOs may suggest priority sectors/projects for CERF requests through their participation in humanitarian country teams or through other ad-hoc arrangements if a humanitarian country team does not exist and (2) NGOs will function as recipients of funds as implementing partners for CERF-funded projects.
In countries where a Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) has been instituted, HC/RCs may use the CAP as a catalogue of projects from which to set priorities based on assessed needs/capacities, and to identify priority projects that are appropriate for CERF funding. In these cases, funding can be provided against the CAP, and CAP project sheets may be submitted in lieu of a completed CERF Application Template. In countries without a CAP, a CERF Application Template must be completed in order for the grant request to be considered.
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[Last updated on 18 June 2009]