UN Central Emergency Response Fund

  • Mission:The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) is a humanitarian fund established by the United Nations to enable more timely and reliable humanitarian assistance to those affected by natural disasters and armed conflicts. CERF is a tool created by the United Nations to pre-position funding for humanitarian action. It was established to upgrade the current Central Emergency Revolving Fund by including a grant element based on voluntary contributions by Governments and private sectors organizations such as corporations, individuals, and NGOs. The CERF was approved by consensus by the United Nations General Assembly on 15 December 2005 to achieve the following objectives: promote early action and response to reduce loss of life; enhance response to time-critical requirements; strengthen core elements of humanitarian response in underfunded crises CERF assures that the funds will go where they are most needed in the network of international aid organizations. Those include the most experienced organizations such as the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organizations (WHO) to name a few. CERF was created by all nations, for all potential victims of disasters. It represents a real chance to provide predictable and equitable funding to those affected by natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies. It is an enourmous undertaking and will require collective support of all sectors.
  • Address:380 Madison Avenue (6th floor)
  • City:New York
  • State:New York
  • Postal code:
  • Phone:2129631627
  • Email: cerf@un.org
  • Headquarters Contact:Steve O'Malley, Secretariat Chief
  • Official Website
  • Guidestar Page
  • Charity Navigator Page
  • Annual Budget:$0
On 13 January 2010, the morning after the catastrophic earthquake, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced an allocation of $10 million for emergency response. An additional $15 million was allocated on 15 January. Four humanitarian agencies the International Organization for Migration, (IOM), World Food Programme (WFP),United Nations Children’s Fund( UNICEF) and the World Health Organization(WHO) were therefore able to jumpstart their programmes to provide shelter, clean water, health services and food to some of the thousands of people struggling to cope in the aftermath of the earthquake. Funding was also made available for logistics for humanitarian operations.

General

Haiti is the sort of international aid “orphan” the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) was created to help. In 2003, a humanitarian appeal for Haiti received only 38 percent of the $14 million required to adequately meet the life-saving needs in Haiti. Since the Fund became operational in 2006, Haiti has received emergency funding each year, some $54 million in total. With $16 million received from CERF to help combat the effects of natural disasters and the food crisis in 2008, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere was the sixth-largest recipient of CERF funding. The humanitarian appeal for Haiti, launched in September 2008, received 59 percent of the $121 million funding required. CERF was the fourth-largest source of funding (after U.S., U.K. and ECHO) for that appeal.

2006-01-01
25,000,000
Food, Health, Housing, Infrastructure Repair, Search and Rescue, Transportation

Staff

FAQs

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