Reform of the humanitarian system is high on the agenda for the international community. Recognition is growing that aid given in response to crises could be far more effectively used, and in particular that the UN could play a more central role in this.
In Sudan in 2005, with the aim of increasing humanitarian aid effectiveness, several bilateral donors agreed to create a common humanitarian fund to be placed under the auspices of the office of the UN humanitarian coordinator. The overall goal of the fund was to increase the flexibility, timeliness and co-ordination of humanitarian funding by giving the humanitarian coordinator sufficient authority and resources to be able to meet top priorities in the 2006 Work Plan.
Crown Agents was contracted to design the architecture of the fund and in late 2005 we deployed a team to Khartoum to establish the mechanics of the fund - its legal, financial, procedural and institutional arrangements.
In particular they:
- Determined staff requirements and structures
- Established the legal framework for the fund
- Developed agreements between the humanitarian coordinator, donors and implementing agencies
- Designed information systems and reporting protocols
- Assessed the potential for direct funding of NGOs
- Established procedures in line with a range of individual donor fiduciary systems
In 2006 the UN allocated more than $160m in grant funding through the Fund to support a variety of humanitarian projects in North and South Sudan, as well as Darfur.
"Ensuring that [humanitarian] coordinators have the funds [they need], and in a single pot, gives them the means to act quickly. Eight donors, including the Netherlands, Sweden and ourselves, are doing this in Sudan this year. In Sudan last year, this approach ensured that enough money was available early on, so that for the first time ever seeds and tools were distributed on time, before the planting season." Hilary Benn, UK Secretary of State for International Development (DFID), May 2006