The emergency pooled fund for oPt, the Humanitarian Emergency Response fund (HRF), was created in August 2007 to provide rapid allocation and disbursement of funds to support humanitarian activities at the sudden onset of emergencies.
The Fund was initiated with the generous support from Sweden and Spain. Current donors of the HRF also include Ireland, UK (DFID), Norway and Netherlands.
The primary purpose of the HRF is to enable, NGOs and UN agencies, to: provide an immediate response to unforeseen emergencies; prevent the irrevocable loss of livelihoods; and/or fill a well defined funding gap until main-stream funding is available.
The Fund is managed by OCHA oPt, on behalf of the Humanitarian Coordinator (HC), with the technical support of the humanitarian cluster/sector leads and members of an advisory board.
HRF applications take only a few days to process provided they fulfill strict emergency criteria, reflect priority needs identified by the humanitarian community and address unforeseen gaps in the planned overall response. Eighty percent of funds are disbursed between 10 - 15 of days after the agreement is signed, between the HC and the implementing partner (100% for UN agencies). The balance is disbursed a maximum of one month after receipt of the final implementation and financial report.
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