Syria Humanitarian Fund
The Syria Humanitarian Fund (SHF) is a country-based pooled fund (CBPF) that mobilizes and channels resources to humanitarian partners to address the most urgent needs of the millions of people affected by the Syria crisis.
During 2024, the SHF allocated $30 million, thanks to the generosity of 18 donors who contributed $53.3 million in funding. The SHF supports targeted multi-sector and integrated life-saving, life-sustaining and resilience-based assistance to the most vulnerable people living in underserved, socio-economically depressed areas with the highest inter-sector severity of needs.
In January 2025, the SHF launched a three-tiered allocation approach to address the evolving humanitarian situation, including cost extensions of existing projects, a flexible ’48-hour’ prepositioning response, to be followed by a reserve allocation based on the results of the rapid needs assessment in March 2025. An additional $1 million reserve allocation for cholera prevention was also launched at the beginning of 2025.
The SHF is aiming to increase funding for national organizations by expanding its pool of eligible partners, continuing to foster partnerships with national and local organizations through ensuring their representation in the SHF advisory board and project review committees, and expanding the availability of trainings.
The SHF and Syria Cross-Border Humanitarian Fund have developed a pooled fund transition roadmap, for a whole of Syria integrated pooled fund by 2026. In the interim, both funds will work in sync, moving towards a single advisory board governance structure under the Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator by June 2025.
Syria Cross-Border Humanitarian Fund
The Syria Cross-Border Humanitarian Fund (SCHF) is a CBPF that has the objective of enabling cross-border humanitarian assistance in north-west Syria. The SCHF strives to adapt to the evolving challenges in Syria, maintaining its focus on the most at-risk populations.
During 2024, SCHF was supported by 18 donors, receiving $72.2 million. SCHF allocated $66.1 million to address the critical humanitarian needs of 4.2 million people in need in north-west Syria, primarily women and children. The allocations focused on ensuring the continuation of critical lifesaving services while fostering resilience through multisectoral, community-driven approaches to protect and empower populations. The fund covered critical gaps in basic services, heavily contributing to multisectoral winter-related needs, ensuring lifesaving services for vulnerable groups.
Allocations prioritized localization, with 70 per cent of funding released directly to national NGOs or through subgrants. This promotes and empowers local, inclusive, and innovative initiatives led by community-based organizations, women-led organizations, youth-led organizations, and organizations of PWD. Integral components include capacity-building initiatives and tailored training sessions on protection and community engagement.
With the rapidly changing situation in November 2024, the SCHF allowed partners to reprogram and top up existing proposals addressing the urgent needs of newly displaced and returning populations. In 2025, following the escalation of hostilities in Menbij, the SCHF launched the first reserve allocation of $3.8 million for life-saving interventions, providing comprehensive assistance to IDP camps and displaced populations through non-food item and cash assistance, rehabilitating the Menbij Bakery and National Hospital, and aiming to conduct protection assessments.