Operational Handbook for Country-based Pooled Funds (Version 1.2), October 2017 [EN/AR]

1. Introduction

1.1 Introduction

1. Country-based Pooled Funds (CBPFs) are multi-donor humanitarian financing instruments established by the Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) and managed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) at the country level under the leadership of the Humanitarian Coordinator (HC). While OCHA has managed humanitarian pooled funds at the country level since 1995, CBPFs are rooted in the 2005 Humanitarian Reform and the Secretary-General’s report “In larger freedom”, which calls for predictable and flexible humanitarian funding to meet the needs of vulnerable communities.

2. CBPFs are critical tools to support the delivery of the OCHA’s humanitarian coordination mandate. They receive un-earmarked funding from donors and allocate it in response to priority humanitarian needs through joint planning and an inclusive and field-driven decision-making process. OCHA’s approach to the management of CBPFs is anchored in the principles of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Transformative Agenda, which stresses the importance of providing predictable, timely and consistent resources towards principled humanitarian action. This approach is reinforced in the 2014-17 OCHA Strategic Framework, which highlights the role of CBPFs in promoting timely and un-earmarked funding allocated based on priority needs. The Strategic Framework calls for the use of CBPFs to enhance coordination and complementarity among humanitarian financing mechanisms. CBPFs promote diversity and partnership by supporting a variety of humanitarian actors, including national non-governmental organizations (NGOs), with the resources they need to contribute to humanitarian response operations, and by engaging them in the governance and management of CBPFs.

3. CBPFs promote coordinated humanitarian response through their close alignment to the Humanitarian Programme Cycle (HPC) . Harmonized CBPF processes and tools aim at making the mechanisms more effective and efficient in supporting the implementation of the Humanitarian Response Plans (HRPs).

4. CBPFs also enhance resource mobilization efforts and make more resources available for humanitarian response activities prioritized under the HRP.

5. The CBPF Operational Handbook (hereinafter referred to as the Handbook) sets the minimum global standards for effective and efficient management of CBPFs. The Handbook responds to the need for standardized management arrangements and builds upon the vast experience gained by OCHA over the years in managing CBPFs in different country contexts.

1.2 Purpose and scope of the Handbook

6. The purpose of the Handbook is to ensure a coherent approach to the strategic and operational management of all CBPFs. The Handbook defines management arrangements that enhance quality and accountability to UN Member States, donors, beneficiaries, and humanitarian partners, including those receiving CBPF grants.

7. The Handbook elaborates the OCHA Policy Instruction on CBPFs, which describes the objectives, management and governance arrangements for all OCHA-managed CBPFs. The Handbook contains a set of annexes developed to guide and support OCHA Country Offices in the management of CBPFs.

8. The primary audience for this Handbook are OCHA Country Offices and, in particular, the Humanitarian Financing Units (HFUs) that support and administer the CBPFs. The Handbook provides a set of processes and tools to provide guidance in the management of CBPFs and serve as minimum standards.
OCHA Country Offices should build upon these minimum standards to ensure that the use and management of each fund meet the requirements of their context in which they are used.

9. The Handbook describes the roles and responsibilities of HCs, OCHA, UN agencies, NGOs5 , clusters and other stakeholders when engaging in the operation of CBPFs.

10. CBPFs are humanitarian financing instruments managed at the country level. They operate in different contexts and respond to a broad range of crises. CBPFs should be therefore flexible and adapted to local contexts.

11. This Handbook presents additional technical guidance, processes and tools that must be adopted by each CBPF as minimum standards. While funds are required to comply with this Handbook, they retain the flexibility to build upon the requirements and adopt additional mechanisms that allow better responsiveness to each country context.

12. The processes and procedures described in Chapters 2, 3 and 4 should be further spelled out in a country specific “Operational Manual” (Annex 1, CBPF Operational Manual Template) prepared for each CBPF. While the minimum parameters described in this Handbook must be adhered to, each CBPF has to define the specific arrangements necessary to work in a given country context. This includes membership of governance bodies; specific steps in the allocation process; and the accountability framework, including procedures for capacity assessment, risk management and monitoring.

13. This Handbook is subject to periodic reviews. An assessment of the implementation of the Handbook will be carried out in 2021. In order to allow for flexibility and efficiency in the management of CBPFs, the annexed templates can be modified more frequently should this be deemed necessary