OCHA - Support to Yemen's Emergency Response Fund (ERF)

Project completed

The Yemen Emergency Response Fund (ERF) is a multi-donor pooled fund, established in August 2010 in order to provide NGOs and UN agencies with a rapid and flexible funding mechanism to respond to unforeseen short-term humanitarian needs of vulnerable communities affected by emergencies. ERF funded projects aim to address the most urgent needs of vulnerable communities, complement the activities of other humanitarian actors and reinforce coordination and partnership of UN Agencies, NGOs and other actors, including local authorities to strengthen the humanitarian response capacity.

Country/region Topic Period Budget
Yemen
Migration
nothemedefined
Forced displacement (refugees, IDP, human trafficking)
01.10.2014 - 30.06.2015
CHF  1’000’000
Background

Yemen continues to be a large scale humanitarian crisis, with more than half the population or 14.7 million people in need of some form of humanitarian assistance. The needs remain largely unchanged since 2013. They include 10.5 million food-insecure, of whom 4.5 million are severely food insecure. An estimated 1’080’000 children under five suffer from acute malnutrition, of whom 279’000 children who are severely acutely malnourished. In addition, about 13.1 million Yemenis, amounting to over half of the population, have no access to improved water sources or to adequate sanitation facilities.

Some 7.6 million people will be targeted for humanitarian assistance in 2014. Meeting their needs will cost US$ 592 million. 1’33 million people are displaced (307’000 IDPs, 247’000 refugees, 228’000 returnees and 544’000 migrants).

Objectives

The overall goal of the ERF for Yemen is to enable the humanitarian community at the country level to deliver principled humanitarian assistance through the provision of timely and predictable funding thus reducing acute vulnerabilities in the aftermath of emergencies caused by conflicts in the north, the centre and the south of Yemen.

Target groups

Internally Displaced People (IDP's), refugees and migrants as well as other highly vulnerable communities.

Medium-term outcomes
  • Effective humanitarian assistance delivered by providing funding to respond to unforeseen needs including newly identified humanitarian needs, or critical gap-filling funding to life-saving activities in line with strategic response plans and cluster priorities. Operational and logistics activities necessary to deliver humanitarian assistance effectively supported.
  • Humanitarian coordination strengthened by supporting clusters, humanitarian partners and in-country stakeholders to participate throughout ERF’s programme management cycle.
  • Fostering strategic partnerships with national and international humanitarian community.
Results

Expected results:  

  1. Implementation of an effective and efficient rapid response mechanism to meet short term emergency needs of vulnerable communities.
  2. Increased activities in areas where humanitarian actors face access and security challenges.


Results from previous phases:  

The ERF has been an efficient and coordinated mechanism for making early funding available to UN Agencies, NGOs and other actors to respond to emerging needs in a timely, prioritized and strategic manner.

Since 2010 the Yemen ERF has disbursed more than US$27 million to 93 projects across health, education, water and sanitation, protection, nutrition, early recovery, shelter/Non-Food Items, logistics and coordination and support services. More than 70% of the funds were disbursed to international (57%) and national NGOs (19%) ERF implementing partners (IPs).

In 2013, aid agencies submitted 54 project proposals to the ERF with a combined budget of $15.4 million. The ERF funded 38 of the projects. The approval rate (70%) increased compared to 2012, when 51 proposals were submitted and 31 approved (61%). This was due to an improved quality of submitted proposals.

About 1.5 million people benefited from ERF funded projects in 2013, including 765,000 men and boys, 735,000 women and girls.

The Humanitarian Coordinator has approved a total of 24 projects worth 7.3 million USD for ERF funding between January and July 2014.


Directorate/federal office responsible SDC
Credit area Humanitarian aid
Project partners Contract partner
United Nations Organization (UNO)
  • United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs


Other partners

The Yemeni Government (i.e. the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, Health, Education, Social Affairs, Labour and Agriculture).

Coordination with other projects and actors

There are synergies with the INGO Forum project, as well as with other NGO- and multilateral projects, which SDC is funding bilaterally in Yemen.

Budget Current phase Swiss budget CHF    1’000’000 Swiss disbursement to date CHF    1’000’000 Total project since first phase Swiss budget CHF   1’400’000 Budget inclusive project partner CHF   2’400’000
Project phases Phase 15 01.01.2023 - 31.12.2024   (Current phase) Phase 10 01.01.2018 - 30.06.2019   (Completed) Phase 9 15.06.2017 - 14.06.2018   (Completed) Phase 6 01.11.2015 - 31.10.2016   (Completed) Phase 5 01.01.2015 - 31.12.2015   (Completed)

Phase 4 01.10.2014 - 30.06.2015   (Completed)