The Common Humanitarian Fund for Somalia (CHF-Somalia) was established on 29 June 2010 as an upgrade of the existing Humanitarian Response Fund (HRF) in Somalia to a larger and more strategic Common Humanitarian Fund. Similar to the Sudan CHF, the DRC Pooled Fund and the CAR CHF, it is a pooled funding mechanism under the overall authority of the Humanitarian Coordinator (HC), that is intended to support national NGOs, international NGOs and UN agencies providing humanitarian assistance to people in need in a strategic and timely manner. For more information on CHF for Somalia and 2011 Somalia CAP please visit OCHA Somalia Website.
Somalia faces one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. Establishing a CHF for Somalia aims at addressing funding inequities that have existed over previous years, ensuring that the humanitarian community has a known amount of funding at the beginning of the year, to supplement and complement bilateral funding and to fill strategic and priority cluster and geographic gaps. Based on experiences in other countries, establishing a CHF should increase funding flows from a broader donor base (including from countries with limited or non-existent field representation), the Fund will enhance operational and donor coordination, strengthen the cluster system, and strengthen monitoring and evaluation in the Somalia operation as a whole.
The CHF has two main objectives: (i) strategically fund assessed humanitarian action in Somalia to improve the timeliness and coherence of the humanitarian response, and (ii) support priority clusters and regional priorities in accordance with identified needs.
The CHF aims to ensure that humanitarian needs are addressed in a collaborative manner, fostering understanding and coordination within and between clusters and humanitarian organizations. As such, the Fund contributes to improving the timeliness and coherence of the humanitarian response, improving needs assessments, enhancing the Consolidated Appeal (CAP) as the strategic planning document for humanitarian action in Somalia, strengthening coordination mechanisms, in particular the cluster system, and improving accountability through enhanced monitoring and evaluation framework.
The CHF-Somalia has the following ten priority clusters:
1) Health
2) Water and Sanitation
3) Agriculture and Livelihoods
4) Food Assistance
5) Nutrition
6) Education
7) Logistics
8) Protection
9) Shelter
10) Enabling Environment
The CHF has two funding windows: Standard Allocations and an Emergency Reserve. At the time of a standard allocation, 20% of available funding is kept as an emergency reserve and the remaining 80% is allocated. These percentages can change based on the humanitarian situation and changes in humanitarian needs. The HC in consultation with the Advisory Board decides on the percentages.
The CHF-Somalia is administered by the Multi-Donor Trust Fund Office (MDTF Office) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in accordance with its financial regulations and rules.
EXPLANATORY NOTE! As contributions of several donors are received at the end of the calendar year to ensure predictability of funding ahead of the Humanitarian Planning Exercise for the following year, please note that generally October through December contributions are available for programming in the following year. For some donors this end year contributions may also constitute contributions of the following year.
Governance
The HC, supported by OCHA, manages the CHF. UNDP serves as the Fund’s Administrative Agent (AA), receiving funds for the CHF from donors and disbursing them to participating UN organizations and IOM, according to the allocation decisions of the HC, as well as providing financial reports and statements on the utilization of the Fund. OCHA, as the Managing Agent (MA), transfers funds to NGOs, according to the decisions of the HC.
Humanitarian Coordinator
The overall management of the Common Humanitarian Fund – Somalia activities is led and coordinated by the Humanitarian Coordinator (HC). According to the CHF-Somalia Guidelines, the HC is responsible for:
• Ensure that funds channelled through the CHF are allocated in a transparent manner, in accordance with the CHF’s objectives;
• Oversee the work of the clusters and the Advisory Board with regards to the CHF, make the final decision on allocations, and instructs UNDP to disburse funds to participating UN organizations and IOM, and OCHA to disburse funds to NGOs accordingly.
• Launch standard allocations by publishing a standard allocation document, which identifies assessed needs, defines priorities for the humanitarian response including regional priorities, and allocates funding envelopes to priority clusters and activities.
• Supported by OCHA, communicate all documentation and decisions regarding the CHF, including funding criteria and decisions on monitoring and evaluation, to the humanitarian country team and clusters.
• Oversee the process of monitoring and evaluating the impact and effectiveness of the CHF. Supported by the clusters and OCHA, ensure that ad-hoc teams of NGO, UN, and donor representatives and/or external contractors evaluate projects that are selected by the Advisory Board at its review meetings.
• Together with the Advisory Board, review the CHF before and after every standard allocation.
Advisory Board
The Advisory Board comprises four UN agencies, four NGOs, two donor representatives and the HC as its chair. Its membership is limited to ensure meaningful discussions and quick and effective decision-making. Those selected make a commitment to attend all Board meetings, to provide comments by email as required, and are authorized to make decisions during Board meetings. Humanitarian UN agencies select four among them as Board members, and the NGOs select four NGOs as Board members.
An additional representative from a non-CHF contributing donor is invited as an observer. OCHA participates as the Secretariat as well as in its role as Managing Agent. Board members are elected for two years; tenure is renewable, and representation should be at the country representative or head of country office level. Board members participate in their individual, technical capacities; they do not represent the interest of their agency or broader constituencies.
The Board has four main roles:
- Review the draft CHF allocation document prepared by OCHA for standard allocations and provide comments and recommendations to the HC for the finalization of the document.
- Review the general functioning of the Fund after each standard allocation, i.e. at least twice year, and advise the HC on necessary adjustments to its rules and procedures.
- Upon request from the HC, review projects that do not fall within an established cluster (multi-cluster and common services projects).
Cluster coordinators, co-chairs and Cluster Review Committees
With regards to standard allocations, cluster coordinators are responsible for recommending the allocation of funding to projects within their cluster. Together with the co-chair, they compile a list of projects to be reviewed by the cluster review committee (detailed guidelines for cluster review committees are below). Cluster chairs are responsible for the inclusiveness and transparency of this process. The list of projects selected by the CRC is submitted to the HC and to the Funding Coordination Unit at OCHA for review and to ensure that it is in line with all CHF requirements.
Clusters contribute to monitoring and evaluation by developing three to five key indicators per cluster, by including CHF projects in their cluster portfolio, by analyzing project reports, by participating in inter-agency project visits, and by providing sampling criteria for the selection of projects for evaluation.
Administrative Agent
The Multi-Donor Trust Fund Office (MDTF Office) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) serves as the Administrative Agent (AA) and is responsible for concluding Standard Administrative Arrangements (SAAs) with donors and Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with Participating UN Organizations. It receives, administers and manages contributions from Donors. It disburses these funds to the Participating UN Organizations in accordance with the decisions of the HC. The AA also maintains an Emergency Reserve as directed by the HC. Finally, the AA prepares and submits consolidated financial reports, as well as financial statements on the CHF-Somalia account to the HC, each donor that has contributed to the CHF-Somalia, as well as Participating UN Organizations.
The MDTF Office maintain the CHF Somalia website on its Gateway (the MDTF webportal), which contains financial data related to donor contributions and transfers to participating UN organizations, annual and final reports, and other relevant documents related to the CHF in Somalia
Decision-Making
The standard allocation process is the core element of the CHF and is used to allocate the majority of funding. The HC, advised by the Advisory Board and in consultation with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) and the Inter-Cluster Working Group (ICWG), allocates available funding to priority clusters, based on an analysis of humanitarian needs and priorities. Clusters then identify priority, underfunded CAP projects for CHF funding and submit them via OCHA to the HC for review and final approval. Standard allocations usually take place twice a year. They include three steps: allocation of funding envelopes in the standard allocation document, prioritization of projects, and review and approval of recommended projects.
The first yearly standard allocation usually takes place in February after the publication of the CAP and the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) post-Deyr assessment. The second yearly allocation usually takes place in August after the publication of the mid-year review of the CAP and FSNAU post-Gu assessment. Thus, allocations are based on assessed needs and an agreed humanitarian strategy, and, as funding is available early in the year, organizations can plan ahead. While the HC allocates as much funding as possible at the beginning in the year, the number and timing of standard allocations in each year may vary depending on the emergence of new crises and the availability of funds. In particular, further standard allocations may be added so that received funding is disbursed quickly.
This tab shows only recent documents relevant at the Fund level. To see more documents at both the fund and project level go to the Document Center.
| Document date | Document type | Document |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Sep 2010 | Framework Doc/TOR | CHF-Somalia_Guidance Note_Allocation_Feb 2011.pdf |
| 20 May 2010 | MoU | CHF_Somalia_MOU_20 May 2010.pdf |
| 27 Apr 2010 | SAA | CHF-Somalia - SAA.pdf |
| 27 Apr 2010 | Framework Doc/TOR | CHF Somalia Guidelines.pdf |
No comments:
Post a Comment