Emergency Cash Grants and Prepositioned Funds
Print this page- What are OCHA Emergency Cash Grants?
- What are Pre-positioned Funds?
- What can an Emergency Cash Grant be used for?
- When can we request the grant?
- How to request an Emergency Cash Grant or a Pre-positioned fund allocation?
- How does OCHA process an Emergency Cash Grant request?
- Filling out the Costplan
- Reporting
- Printable guide
What are OCHA Emergency Cash Grants?
OCHA is entitled to provide Emergency Cash Grants to assist Member States affected by disaster situations requiring international assistance. According to GA resolution 59/141 of December 2004, the maximum amount that can be released is USD 100,000 in case of a catastrophic event. Based on common practice, amounts released range between 10,000 and 50,000. The maximum total amount available over each calendar year is USD 750,000.
The Grant is allocated within 10 days after the disaster to purchase relief items, deliver and distribute them.
What are Pre-positioned Funds?
In addition to this central grant facility, some donor governments (Danemark, Ireland, Italy, Norway, The Netherlands and the UK) have provided OCHA with Pre-positioned Funds (Emergency Grant Reserve) that can be released in addition to the OCHA Emergency Cash Grants. In all these cases, with the exception of funds from Italy, funds can only be made available to countries listed under OECD's list of aid recipients under Part I: Developing Countries and Territories. This list can be accessed using the following link: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/51/35832713.pdf (latest version attached here).
Grants from pre-positioned funds should not exceed the amount of the regular OCHA grant, except in the case of Italy, in which the amount can be higher and can be released in case not only of natural disasters but also of acute crisis within a complex emergency situation. However, in this particular case, prior to the release of funds, a written request needs to be sent to the Italian Permanent Mission for approval.
What can an Emergency Cash Grant be used for?
It is for:
- Purchase of disaster victims assistance items, AND/OR
- Logistics of distribution.
It is not for:
- Rehabilitation activities, NOR
- Reconstruction activities, NOR
- Establishing coordination mechanisms, NOR
- Recruitment of personnel.
When can we request the grant?
When the disaster exceeds the local response capacity of the country and the country requests international support or welcomes it AND/OR
When the Resident Coordinator/UNDMT in coordination with the national authorities responsible for the emergency management considers it necessary.
How to request an Emergency Cash Grant or a Pre-positioned fund allocation?
A formal request for the grant must be made by the RC/HC and sent by fax to the chief of OCHA's Coordination and Response Division in New York, copying the desk officer in charge of the country and OCHA's administrative office. The request should briefly describe the situation and the needs and explain how the funds will be used, including a basic cost plan.
Alternatively, the Government of the affected country can make a request through its UN Permanent Missions in Geneva or New York
Please click here for the grant request template.
An example grant request is attached here.
How does OCHA process an Emergency Cash Grant request?
The OCHA Desk Officer will first check with the administrative office that the requested financial resources is available either as emergency cash grant or pre-positioned fund. If the response is positive, a memo will be sent to the administrative office, requesting the funds allocation. See template attached, and example.
In the case of pre-positioned funds, a fax should also be sent to the donors, informing them of utilization of their funds.
OCHA New York will then send a reply message to the Resident Coordinator within 24 hours regarding the approved total amount of the Grant, the sponsoring donor, and the Cost Plan Format.
To cover the transaction expenses, OCHA will retain 3% of the total approved sum of the Grant. NOTE: This applies only in the case of pre-positioned funds by some Governments). It DOES NOT apply to OCHA emergency funds.
Filling out the Costplan
The Resident Coordinator/UNDMT should fill out the Cost Plan and return it to OCHA New York within 10 days of the grant being approved. Please find here a costplan template and an example costplan.
Once the costplan is received, the Administration office in OCHA will send UNDP a financial authorization for the release of the funds to the implementing partner.
Reporting
Once the project has been implemented, the Resident Coordinator/UNDMT must submit a Grant implementation report, consisting of a short narrative report and financial breakdown, plus all the original invoices and receipts of purchases to OCHA Geneva.
The report must be submitted within the 4 months from the date of the Cost Plan approval.
A sample implementation report is attached here.
Printable guide
Guidelines on Emergency Cash Grants, courtesy of the OCHA ROLAC office, are attached here.