Following the 2016 Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing (HLP) the Grand Bargain agreement was finalised. A collection of 51 commitments across 9 thematic work streams and one cross-cutting commitment to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the humanitarian action it has 63 signatories including the largest donors and humanitarian organisations.

A number of mechanisms and tools have since been put in place to harmonise funding streams and better support Multi-Year Humanitarian Funding as part of the IASC quality funding package.

Financing instruments managed by Emergency Relief Coordinator and UN OCHA

Appeal mechanisms:

• Flash Appeal: within 72 hours of disaster for acute needs for up to six months

• HRP: for protracted emergencies

Funding instruments:

• • • United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) Rapid Response window: for immediate, life-saving assistance. See IASC CERF lifesaving criteria 2020

    • CERF Underfunded Emergencies window (if the country is selected by the ERC) for underfunded sectors

    • Country Based Pool Fund (CBPF) are multi-donor humanitarian financing instruments (if established)

    • Emergency Cash Grants for immediate needs (usually do not exceed US$100,000)

    • CERF loan element : considered when a UN agency has received an official donor commitment but there is a delay in the transfer of funds

Humanitarian Response Plans inform Inter-Agency Coordinated Appeals and are published under the Global Humanitarian Overview and reported via the (FTS).

The Financial Tracking Service is a centralized source of curated, continuously updated, fully downloadable data and information on humanitarian funding flows. Government donors, UN-administered funds, UN agencies, NGOs and other humanitarian actors and partners.

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Humanitarian Financing Resources

• Leadership in Humanitarian Action: Handbook for the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator [IASC 2021]

• IATI FTS Pilot key learning [IATI, 2020]

• Money Where it Counts: A protocol for harmonised cost classification and financial budgeting and reporting [IASC, 2019]

• Financing the Nexus: Gaps and Opportunities from a Field Perspective [IASC, 2019]

COVID-19 & Resource Mobilisation

• WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund

• Webinar IASC Briefing - Funding the Frontlines: Efforts to Unlock and Disburse Funds in the COVID19 Response [IASC, Oct 2020]

• Interim Key Messages: Flexible funding for humanitarian response and COVID-19 [4 Page PDF document, 256 KB]

These key messages for the IASC explains the justification for flexible funding to respond to COVID-19, provides a standardised definition of flexible and simplified funding, and details a specific request to donors underscored by IASC members' own actions. It also explains the process for how these key messages should be taken forward.

GBV fundraising

• Guidelines and Examples of Best Practice for GBViE Fundraising [GBV AoR, April 2021]