Total 2024 Allocations (US$)
$315.3
Countries Assisted with 2024 Allocations
23
May
In May 2024, the OCHA-managed Country-Based Pooled Funds (CBPF) allocated $106 million in 11 countries to enable essential and life-saving humanitarian assistance. Of this amount, the CBPFs allocated $58.5 million while CERF allocated $47.5 million, $22.5 million through its Rapid Response Window and $25 million through the Underfunded Emergencies Window. For more information about all allocations, please visit CBPFs’ Data Hub and CERF’s website.
What’s new in the Pooled Funds?
A new Regional Humanitarian Fund in Eastern and Southern Africa is opening. This builds on the successful establishment and performance of the Regional Humanitarian Fund in West and Central Africa, and the inauguration of the Regional Humanitarian Fund in Latin America and the Caribbean in March. The Fund will mirror the West and Central Africa Fund, with the possibility for donors to earmark contributions to individual country envelopes that will be programmed by Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinators (RC/HC) with support from in-country Advisory Boards. The fund will enable swift and flexible locally led responses to a wide range of sudden-onset crises across the region and allow OCHA to offer pooled fund services in a scalable and fit-for-purpose manner. Moreover, it will draw in resources for protracted and underfunded crises and improve funding for local responders.
A first country envelope will be established in Mozambique, enabling donors to channel their funding to local responders in communities increasingly affected by conflict and climate change. The spike in displacement, armed violence and extreme weather events in Mozambique are putting more people at risk and in need of humanitarian support. The Fund will enable rapid response in hard-to-reach areas in partnership with local organisations. OCHA has received encouraging expressions of financial support for this envelope, and the RC/HC continues active resource mobilisation efforts.
The first edition of the CERF Annual Climate Action Report has been published, outlining the impact the Fund had last year in enabling responses to climate-related disasters globally. The report offers detailed insights into CERF’s climate action, including the hazards, geographical locations, beneficiary demographics, and sectors that have been prioritised. The report also illustrates how CERF-supported projects contribute to building resilience and adapting to future climate shocks in affected communities.
CENTRAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND
as of 31 May
May Allocations (US$)
$47.5M
Total 2024 Allocations (US$)
$208.6M
Countries Assisted with Allocations in May
7
Allocation in focus: In May, CERF allocated $2.5 million to enable UN agencies to provide immediate life-saving assistance in Burundi. The funding will address the repercussions of rising lake waters and recent torrential rains related to El Niño, which have prompted new internal displacements and could heighten the risk of waterborne epidemic diseases, including cholera—an endemic threat in the affected regions. Additionally, the allocation will address the surge in malaria and other disease cases, as well as increasing protection concerns, including gender-based violence. While the focus of this allocation will be to deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance, the response strategy will also harness established partnerships with development and environmental stakeholders to promote sustainable solutions for both affected individuals and host communities. The allocation will provide humanitarian assistance to 60,000 affected people.
As of end-May 2024, total income to CERF is lower than at the same time in 2023 - $451.5 million in contrast with $470.9 million in 2023. It is crucial that additional resources be made available to CERF to allow the Fund to respond to rising needs and in preparation of the second round of the Under-funded Emergencies (UFE). Fundraising for the CERF Climate Account continues. For more information, see the Flyer on the CERF Climate Account.
CERF Allocations
Underfunded
COUNTRY-BASED POOLED FUNDS
as of 31 May
May Allocations (US$)
$58.5M
Total 2024 Allocations (US$)
$212.72M
Countries Assisted with Allocations in May
4
Somalia is yet to fully recover from the effects of a devastating drought that ravaged the country between 2020 to mid-2023 and the humanitarian situation has in recent months been further worsened by El Niño-related floods. In response, the Somalia Humanitarian Fund launched a $25 million allocation in May to target communities in five districts whose needs are forecasted to deteriorate without sustained humanitarian assistance. This allocation will pilot the Integrated Response Framework in Banadir District, which hosts the highest number of people in extreme need. With the likelihood of above average rainfall in the Gu season, and dry spell thereafter with prospects of La Niña later in 2024, this allocation builds on post-shock responses and aims to mitigate the potential impact of future shocks.
Total expected income by the end of May 2024 for CBPFs is below the level of May 2023, with 32 donors contributing $575 million compared to 41 donors contributing $812 million in 2023. Several reasons could explain the drop: donors who are delaying their contributions to CBPFs to the latter part of the year; some who have not yet decided of all their allocations, and some who have already informed of the drop in their contributions for 2024. Income predictability remains one of the biggest challenges faced by pooled funds for sound planning and response capacity.
CBPF Allocations
Pooled Funds Story
In West and Central Africa, the Regional Humanitarian Fund supports displaced women and girls
Burkina Faso and Niger.
“Our garden used to provide us with enough food. But we lost everything,” says Roukietou, a mother of two in Banwa province, Burkina Faso, who had to flee her home because of violence.
In neighbouring Niger, Amna cried herself to sleep. Also displaced by conflict, she was suddenly forced to marry an older relative. “My dreams were shattered,” she said. Mass displacement and conflict uproot people’s lives, leading to more risks for women and girls, including hunger and poor nutrition, as well as gender-based violence and sexual exploitation.
Burkina Faso continues to experience one of the fastest-growing humanitarian crises in the world, with an estimated ten per cent of the national population – more than two million people – internally displaced due to violence and insecurity. A quarter of the population is currently reliant on humanitarian aid.
In Niger, forced displacement has been triggered by conflict, malnutrition, recurrent health epidemics, cyclical floods and drought. It means that 4.3 million people, including 2.4 million children, need humanitarian assistance in 2024.
Help to continue schooling
Amna and her family fled conflict in their village and made for a displacement site in Tillaberi. But, when Amna was only 12, she was married to her cousin, against her wishes. Then, at 14, she became pregnant.
Ultimately, Amna did leave. A friend advised her to get in touch with the international NGO Help, which offers services in Tillaberi with the support of the Regional Humanitarian Fund for West and Central Africa.
Amna met a Help midwife as well as a mental health counsellor. She described her regrets about leaving school and, being pregnant, her worry that she wouldn’t be able to return. The midwife and counsellors told her they would help her to get back to school.
When the baby was born, Help provided food, hygiene supplies, clothes, and formula. The counsellor and baby nurses visited regularly to check on them and make sure they were well. With support from family members, Amna has been able to return to school. “I sleep well now,” she says.
Knowledge, support, and leadership
In Burkina Faso, the international NGO EngenderHealth hosted classes on nutrition, hygiene, and childcare for displaced women like Roukietou. They were also an opportunity to learn and connect with other women who had lived through similar experiences. “These were helpful, and I share the information with other women I know,” says Roukietou.
Another displaced woman, Rakieta, conducts awareness-raising campaigns in the community, advocating for women’s rights and decision-making.
A survivor of domestic abuse herself, Rakieta works with a project run by the national NGO SOS Sahel. “I suffered so much,” she explains. Now she works to get women involved in camp leadership and joining community committees, to help protect other women’s rights – so that no one has to live through what she did
Back to Summary
