Country-Based Pooled Funds 2023 in Review – World

Letter from the Emergency Relief Coordinator

2023 was an undeniably arduous year marked by unremitting global challenges. From Ukraine and Sudan, to the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), the Sahel and beyond, conflict, climate change, disease outbreaks, displacement and economic shocks continued to cause immense suffering. By the end of the year, more than 362 million people found themselves in need of humanitarian aid and protection, almost 30 million more people than at the start.
For many of these people, the OCHA-managed Country-Based Pooled Funds (CBPFs) proved to be an irreplaceable lifeline. Across 19 countries with some 241 million people in need, the CBPFs showcased their huge strategic value as flexible humanitarian financing mechanisms driving cohesive, coordinated and accountable responses at scale. In all, they helped 34.5 million people receive assistance. Critically, the CBPFs ensured that much of this assistance was localized, with a record 39 cent of all funding going to front-line responders.

The Funds’ strategic value was particularly evident in several contexts.

When devastating earthquakes hit Syria in February, the CBPFs provided rapid funding to jump-start the response, working hand-inhand with other funding sources, such as the Central Emergency Response Fund, to provide assistance to more than 9.5 million people in need.

Within hours of the outbreak of the brutal conflict in Israel and OPT, the OPT Humanitarian Fund redirected $9 million from an existing allocation of funds towards rapidly emerging needs in Gaza. The OPT Humanitarian Fund continues to draw on its vast established network of local and national partners as a key part of efforts to provide urgent assistance in Gaza amid staggering access challenges.

And as climate-related disasters continued to disrupt lives and livelihoods in 2023, the CBPFs showed their exceptional ability to adapt and drive innovative approaches to humanitarian action. From the Yemen Humanitarian Fund initiating its first collective to multisectoral anticipatory action programme for floods to the Somalia Humanitarian Fund ensuring early action to protect the most vulnerable populations to the effects of drought, the CBPFs strove to make aid more proactive and incisive. In 2024, the Funds will continue this increasingly urgent work in the growing number of regions prone to climate disasters.

These are just a few of the CBPFs’ success stories in 2023. There are many more throughout this report. They all stand as testament to one thing: When donors generously support funds with unique local knowledge and close working relationships with local partners and organizations, the benefits for affected communities are far-reaching and lasting.

As the global challenges driving humanitarian needs show little sign of abating in 2024, I urge Member States and other donors to keep supporting the CBPFs and the empowering, positive and transformational impact they have on millions of people’s lives.

Martin Griffiths Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator