Global Policy Forum

The new United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), cited by aid officials as one of the most significant humanitarian reforms in a decade, looks set to transform the funding of international responses to disasters and neglected crises. "This is a radical reform. The consequences are much wider than the UN coming up with quick responses [to crises]," said Pelle Enarsson, first secretary at Sweden's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.

"One vision is that, if it worked well, we could have a much larger fund in the future. This is a building block for something quite novel and radical, which could change humanitarian financing," Enarsson said. With US $40 million committed to the CERF, Sweden is the largest contributor after the United Kingdom, which has assigned $70 million. The fund is intended to enable the UN system to respond rapidly to sudden disasters as well as divert life-saving aid to lesser-known crises. It was approved by the UN's General Assembly on 15 December, after intense lobbying by key donor governments.

"Achieving consensus in the UN's General Assembly was not guaranteed. Not everyone saw the vision," said Enarsson, who had been involved in negotiations. Sweden, the UK and other donor governments supporting the fund had to tread cautiously and "create a level of comfort in all quarters" before all members were prepared to sign off on the new initiative, he said.

What makes the CERF so attractive to aid officials is its "retroactive accountability". This enables the UN to immediately allocate significant resources to a crisis without having to first confirm available funding with donor governments, which has often delayed responses in the past.

Mark Bowden, senior policy chief for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York, said the fund represented an opportunity for the UN to be more effective."The main features are that it is multilateral, substantial and allows for a prompt response and a reallocation of resources to forgotten emergencies. It is unique in the sense that responsibility [for allocating resources] lies with the emergency relief coordinator," he said.

Bowden explained there were two elements to the new CERF. Two-thirds of the fund would be used for a prompt response to crisis or natural disaster, while one-third would be channelled to cover life-saving activities in neglected crises. Efforts were underway to create a composite formula that would help determine which crises should be assisted, he said.

There was a danger the fund would be perceived as a new tool for western donors only, with other countries having no sense of ownership. While it was still early days, there were indications that the CERF had "kindled the interest of many other states and received broad support." Bowden expected that some new donor countries would join once they saw the fund in place and working.

Estonia has already committed resources to the CERF. Urmas Paet, minister of foreign affairs, said that his Baltic nation had been an active proponent of the CERF from its inception and was keen to see real reform of the UN's humanitarian system.Paet acknowledged that his country may never be a major donor in absolute terms, but this did not prevent a "commitment to the resolution of humanitarian concerns to the extent that our capacities allow." While Estonia has deployed experts as part of the UN's disaster response teams for many years, Paet said it was the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004 and the South Asia earthquake in 2005 that had illustrated the need for strong coordination in humanitarian crises."We find it increasingly important to further strengthen the UN's humanitarian response capabilities, and the upgraded CERF gives us the opportunity to support it," he said.

So far, key donors have pledged over $185 million of a targeted $500 million. Other donors are expected to closely watch how the fund is used and managed in the coming months. Whether many will be following Estonia's example remains to be seen. Swedish diplomat Enarsson said that a level of confidence and trust in the UN Secretariat had been established in December. However, future success depended on how the fund was implemented. "Rest assured that if it doesn't work, donors will not be providing money the year after," he said.

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