CERF is projecting a shortfall of $25 million on the $450 million annual funding target for 2016

On average, each year, CERF grants help humanitarian partners deliver critical healthcare to over 20 million people; food assistance to 10 million people; water and sanitation to 8 million people; livelihood support to 5 million people; protection to 4 million people; and shelter to 1 million people, as well as services for refugees and migrants, nutrition programmes, mine action, emergency education and camp management. Thus, a $25 million funding gap could have a devastating impact by disabling CERF from supporting timely and life-saving humanitarian assistance to millions of people affected by crises.

CERF’s Funding Situation

If pledges and verbally informed commitments are included, CERF funding for 2016 currently stands at $425 million and CERF is projecting a $25 million shortfall for 2016. This is mainly due to exchange rate fluctuations that are estimated to have costs CERF $16 million in 2016. CERF has so far in 2016 disbursed $390 million in 45 countries for life-saving activities around the world in response to high demand from humanitarian partners.

Contributions to CERF exceeded the $450 target in both 2013 and 2014, with approximately $480 million donated to CERF each of those years. In 2015, CERF only received $402 million, primarily due to CERF’s high exposure to currency rate fluctuations and a strong dollar. Thus, despite recent years of dramatic increases in humanitarian requirements, funding available for CERF to support urgent humanitarian action has decreased in both 2015 and 2016. This is despite the call by the Secretary-General for a $1 billion CERF by 2018, and the endorsement of this call by the majority of CERF’s donors.

The imminent funding shortfall can have a devastating impact on people in need. In order to put into perspective the potential impact should new significant contributions not be received urgently, the section below illustrates what has been achieved in the past with $25 million of CERF disbursements.

What $25 Million has achieved in the Past

CERF, under its window for underfunded emergencies, allocates one-third of its funds in two allocation rounds each year to forgotten crises. The first allocation round for underfunded emergencies in 2016, at $100 million, supported aid agencies to provide relief to an estimated 4.5 million people in nine severely underfunded crises where levels of risk and vulnerability are high. For the second allocation round a total of $50 million was allocated to neglected crises in six countries, allowing aid agencies to assist people with life-saving assistance and protection. A $25 million funding shortfall may force CERF to eliminate or significantly reduce an underfunded emergencies allocation round in 2017. Thus, the people in need in the most forgotten, underfunded emergencies, who have already been neglected, could be disproportionately affected by a funding gap, potentially leaving millions of people without life-saving assistance. Supporting life-saving humanitarian action in underfunded crises is part of CERF’s niche, and it would be difficult to find alternative sources of funding for these crises.

The impact would be equally harmful in crises in urgent need of quick and reliable financial support from CERF’s rapid response window during the beginning of new emergency responses or responses to worsened crises. A $25 million funding shortfall could make it impossible for CERF to respond to new or deteriorating emergencies in the reminder of 2016 and early 2017, thereby reducing aid agencies’ ability to respond effectively with time critical life-saving assistance to people in need.

The following examples help put into perspective what $25 million can help achieve, and what CERF may not be able to do should the funds not materialize. In 2015 CERF allocated a total of $15 million to support life-saving assistance for more than 2 million people affected by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal in April 2015. In 2016, CERF has allocated a total of $21 million to support immediate humanitarian assistance to more than 250,000 people affected by the conflict in South Sudan. This has included support to basic service assistance in shelter/NFI, WASH, health, nutrition, food security and protection for displaced people.

A funding shortfall of $25 million in 2016 may prevent CERF from responding to sudden onset or rapidly deteriorating emergencies, as well as underfunded or forgotten crises during the end of 2016 and early 2017, which could ultimately have a devastating impact on the lives of people affected by crises.