Syria crisis 2021 - OCHA CBPF 2021-2023 De humanitära landfonderna, Country Based Pooled Funds, härefter CBPFs, är en av de viktigaste kanalerna för snabba och effektiva humanitära insatser baserade på de humanitära principerna. Därför föreslås att Sida under 2021 bidrar till finansieringen i 16 CBPFs i länder med stora humanitära och komplexa behov. 

CBPF’s främsta mervärde är att säkerställa ett effektivt humanitärt stöd genom att fonderna är landbaserade. CBPF gör det möjligt att möta humanitära behov med en hög grad av kunskap om de lokal förhållandena och ger de som finns närmast kriserna inflytande över prioriteringar och beslut.    

Fonderna stärker också den humanitära samordningen genom att  de har som strategiskt mål att säkerställa genomförandet av den humanitära responsplanen (HRP). Den humanitära samordnaren, som beslutar om insatser som finansieras genom fonden, kan därmed rikta finansiering till kritiska insatser inom HRP. 

Den humanitära samordnaren kan också när som helst rikta humanitär finansiering till plötsligt uppkomna kriser eller snabbt försämrade kriser, genom den snabba finansieringsmekanismen ”Emergency Reserve Allocation”. CBPFs har dessutom goda möjligheter att nå de aktörer som har bäst förutsättningar att genomföra effektiva insatser. De lokala aktörerna har förutom den lokala expertisen som behövs ofta också tillträde till områden som inte är tillgängliga för internationella aktörer. Under 2020 fördelade CBPF 28 % av finansieringen direkt till lokala aktörer och i vissa länder tilldelas lokala partners upp till 50 %. 

Dessutom arbetar CBPF med att säkerställa att olika behov och hinder bland kvinnor och män, flickor och pojkar tas i beaktning genom att främja jämställdhetsanalyser och integrerering av jämställdhet i alla projekt. Inom CBPF finns en arbetsgrupp som säkerställer inkludering av människor med funktionsnedsättning i samtliga CBPF-processer och allokeringar. Vissa insatser som fonderna finansierar syftar till att stärka människors motståndskraft mot framtida kriser, även om detta inte är det huvudsakliga målet med fondernas verksamhet. 

OCHA är en central aktör i det humanitära systemet och har därmed god förståelse för de humanitära kontexterna, vilket inkluderar kunskap om konflikters dynamik och grundorsaker. Fonderna kräver av alla projekt att påvisa förståelse för kontexten och de humanitära konsekvenserna för projektdeltagarna baserat på en multi-sektoriell behovsbedömning, vilket inkluderar do-no-harm.

Sida har bidragit till de humanitära landfonderna sedan den allra första fonden inrättades i Angola 1999. Sedan dess har Sida varit en av de största givarna till CBPF. Under 2020 fick CBPF’s globalt 863 miljoner USD i finansiellt bidrag för att möta humanitära behov i 18 länder. 

CBPF’s finansierar humanitära insatser som genomförs av FN, icke-statliga organisationer samt Röda korset / Röda halvmånen. Under åren har CBPF’s ökat sin finansiering till lokala aktörer. Idag uppgår finansieringen till lokala aktörer till 28% vilket är en betydande ökning från endast 11% år 2014. 

CBPF’s förvaltas lokalt av FN: s kontor för samordning av humanitära frågor (UN OCHA) under ledning av den humanitära samordnaren och i samråd med det humanitära landteamet. Varje fond har en rådgivande styrelse (Advisory Board, AB) som ger råd om viktiga beslut och säkerställer en effektiv förvaltning av fonderna. Den dagliga förvaltningen sköts av en chef för varje landfond samt operationell- och finansiell personal. På global nivå finns arbetsgruppen ”Pooled Funding Working Group (PFWG)”, där nyckelintressenter så som givare, FN och NGOs finns representerade. I PFWG förs strategiska diskussioner kring CBPF’s. Sida has supported the CBPFs since the establishment of the very first fund in Angola, already back in 1999. Since then, Sida has been one of the largest donors to the CBPFs. During 2019, the CBPFs received 956 million USD in financial contributions to respond to humanitarian needs in 18 countries. 

The CBPFs fund UN, NGOs and the Red Cross/Red Crescent Society. During the years, the CBPFs has increased its funding to local actors. In 2014 they reached 11% with direct funding, compared to todays 31 %.   

CBPFs are locally managed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) under the leadership of the Humanitarian Coordinator and in consultation with the humanitarian community. Advisory Boards oversee the Funds, providing advice on key decisions, and ensuring efficient and effective management. The daily management of the funds is overseen by a Fund Manager, monitoring officers and financial officers. At the global level, the Pooled Fund Working Group brings together key stakeholders (representing donors, NGOs and UN agencies) to provide policy guidance. 

The main value added of the CBPF will be ensuring an efficient humanitarian response due to the specific strengths the fund entails:

1) Proximity to the response: The CBPFs aims to address humanitarian needs through a structure with high degree of local expertise of both the humanitarian situation and the humanitarian actors on the ground.

2) Humanitarian Coordination: The CBPF has a strategic objective of ensuring the implementation of the Humanitarian Response Plan and its various components/ programmes. The Humanitarian Coordinator can hence direct funding to critical components in the HRP that are underfunded. The Humanitarian Coordinator can also at any time direct humanitarian funding to sudden onset emergencies or quickly deteriorating crises, through the quick funding mechanism called “Emergency Reserve”. The overall coordination is naturally strengthened by the fact that the ultimate authority of the mandate lies with the Humanitarian Coordinator who is the overall coordinator of the UN lead humanitarian response in any given country. 

3) Reach the best placed actors, which in many cases are local actors who has the expertise and humanitarian access. The CBPF can support local actors in responding to the humanitarian needs. This has been particularly useful when local actors have shown to have the local expertise needed to adequately formulate smaller local responses and also having humanitarian access to areas not accessible by international actors. During 2019, the CBPF allocated 25% directly to local actors and in some countries up to 50% is allocated directly to local partners.   

Moreover, the CBPFs aim to ensure that projects consider the specific needs and constraints faced by women, girls, boys and men. The CBPFs do so by promoting sound gender analysis and gender integration in all projects. The Pooled Fund Disability Inclusion Contact Group composed of independent experts advise on how to improve the funds' work with people with disabilities. This is to ensure that disability inclusion is taken into account in all CBPF processes. Some of the funded projects aim to strengthen resilience of affected population, although this is not the main objective of the contribution. 

OCHA as a central actor in the humanitarian system has a good understanding of the contexts OCHA and the CBPFs work in, including good understanding of the conflict, power dynamics, root causes and drivers of conflict. At CBPF level there is a mandatory part in the project template that implementing partners needs to show an understanding of the context and analyse the humanitarian consequences for the beneficiaries, including do-no-harm, based on multi-sectoral needs assessments. The United Nations Humanitarian Reform initiative (2005) and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Transformative Agenda (2012) put increased emphasis on humanitarian financing as a critical component towards resourcing principled humanitarian action in a predictable and consistent manner. More specifically, the IASC Transformative Agenda focuses on improving the timeliness and effectiveness of the collective humanitarian response through stronger leadership, more effective coordination structures, and improved accountability. In this context, CBPFs provide a link between the pillars of the Transformative Agenda and humanitarian activities on the ground by supporting humanitarian response planning, mobilizing resources, promoting accountability and serving as a vehicle for setting strategic funding priorities for coordinated humanitarian action. The CBPFs are instrumental in delivering OCHAs mandate to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors.

CBPFs are guided by the fundamental humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. CBPFs are also in line with recognized international standards as determined by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) and humanitarian financing principles as codified under the Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD) Initiative.

The CBPFs allocate funding based on identified humanitarian needs and priorities at the country level in line with the Humanitarian Programme Cycle (HPC). Allocations go to UN agencies, national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Red Cross/Red Crescent organizations. To avoid duplication and ensure a complementary use of available CBPF funding, allocations are made taking into account other funding sources, including bilateral contributions. In addition to the fundamental humanitarian principles that guide CBPFs and all humanitarian action, CBPFs are grounded in four specific principles that underpin their functioning:

1) Inclusiveness: A broad range of humanitarian partner organizations (UN agencies and NGOs) participates in CBPF processes and receive funding to implement projects addressing identified priority needs.

2) Flexibility: The programmatic focus and funding priorities of CBPFs are set at the country level and may shift rapidly, especially in volatile humanitarian contexts. CBPFs are able to adapt rapidly to changing priorities and allow humanitarian partners to identify appropriate solutions to address humanitarian needs in the most effective way.

3) Timeliness: CBPFs allocate funds and save lives as humanitarian needs emerge or escalate.

4) Efficiency: Management of all processes related to CBPFs enables timely and strategic responses to identified humanitarian needs. CBPFs seek to employ effective disbursement mechanisms, minimizing transaction costs while operating in a transparent and accountable manner.

Together with these principles, CBPFs have three expected outcomes:

1) Improve effectiveness of the humanitarian response by directing funding towards priority humanitarian needs. Priority needs are identified through an inclusive and participatory process, which includes national actors (e.g. NGOs).

2) Strengthen the leadership of the HC, while leveraging his/her humanitarian coordination role.

3) Mobilize resources and support coordination in support of the humanitarian planning framework (HRP/HPC).

These outcomes lead to the overall operational impact of CBPFs, i.e., the provision of timely, coordinated, principled assistance to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain human dignity.