OCHA Annual Report 2005

INTRODUCTION

The Annual Report 2005 is OCHA’s main reporting tool for donors and the international community, sharing with stakeholders what has been accomplished during the calendar year. In accordance with the Good Humanitarian Donorship initiative, the report presents, in one all-inclusive publication, a comprehensive picture of OCHA’s performance, the overall impact of its activities, and the use of voluntary contributions to support them. It takes stock of the implementation of planned activities, provides an account on how these activities were funded and, most importantly, tries to capture the impact of these activities at the corporate level, particularly those in the field. The report complements OCHA’s appeal document OCHA in 2005 – Activities and Extra-budgetary Requirements.

The report provides OCHA with an opportunity to account for its performance and financial responsibilities for the year. It covers the financial and programmatic elements of OCHA’s core, project and field activities, while providing quantitative and qualitative analysis of performance. The report sets out to measure achievement as a step toward results-based reporting and highlights OCHA’s efforts to become more strategic, accountable and transparent in its performance.

In order to provide a more meaningful analysis of the use and management of funds OCHA received, improvements have been made in the presentation of financial information. Additional explanatory narratives and graphics have been introduced in support of the financial tables to better define the different categories of activities funded under each trust fund. In this way, the report distinguishes between complex emergencies, natural disasters, headquarters projects, and humanitarian funds and other activities that were not included in OCHA in 2005 but for which OCHA received funding.

In addition to a detailed description of OCHA’s core, project and field activities, the report includes narratives on various administrative tools and methods that contribute towards its effective management of funds, such as accountability and risk management, building partnerships, and management of cash resources.

Information has been added on new and changing humanitarian emergency requirements that arose in the course of 2005, and which were therefore not reflected in OCHA in 2005. In particular, a chapter each in Part IV has been dedicated to the activities and funding requirements stemming from the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster, which made enormous demands of OCHA in 2005, as well as to the South Asia earthquake.

As in previous years, Annex I provides information on in-kind and other non-cash contributions that OCHA receives annually.

Annex II provides a brief update on the continued support provided from the Afghanistan Emergency Trust Fund.

Annex III provides an update on the status and utilisation of the revolving CERF as of 31 December 2005, and a summary of the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) established pursuant to General Assembly resolution 50/124 of 12 December 2005, which added a grant element to the existing loan mechanism of the CERF.

Through this report, OCHA would like to express its profound appreciation to its donors for their generous support and collaboration throughout this extraordinary year, and looks forward to strengthened partnerships in 2006.
OCHA welcomes any suggestions that would enhance the usefulness of this reporting tool in meeting the needs of its donors and partners.