The OCHA Pooled Funds' Impact in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin (As of 25 October 2024)

The Sahel and Lake Chad Basin region is facing a severe, long-standing crisis driven by conflict, insecurity, climate change, economic deprivation and other chronic vulnerabilities. These complex, overlapping crises have pushed humanitarian needs, including protection, to unprecedented levels and are threatening hard-won development gains. In 2024, the Global Humanitarian Overview estimated that 35 million people need humanitarian assistance, including protection, in the Sahel and lake Chad Basin. Of those, the Humanitarian Response Plans in the region aim to assist 22 million of the most vulnerable people with a collective funding requirement of $4.7 billion.

In 2024, the OCHA-managed Pooled Funds - the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF) and the Regional Humanitarian Fund for West and Central Africa (RHFWCA) - have played an essential role in enabling more effective humanitarian action in six countries of the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria. Combined, these humanitarian funds have allocated $148.5 million to the region so far this year, playing a critical role in tackling hunger and malnutrition, averting famine, preventing disease outbreaks, and addressing climate-related shocks. These resources have also been instrumental in addressing protection concerns, including gender-based violence. Through their strategic approach, they have maximized the impact of their allocations and promoted a holistic, regional approach to crises that often stretch across national borders.

What are the Pooled Funds?

The Pooled Funds are critical humanitarian funding instruments.

• CERF is an essential enabler of global humanitarian action. As the UN's global emergency fund, CERF is managed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator and can respond based on its life-saving criteria in any country at any time through already mobilized donor contributions at the global level. Allocation strategies are then locally prioritized by the RC/HC in consultation with the country team. CERF funding allows responders to kick-start relief efforts immediately when a new crisis emerges and to scale up and sustain protracted relief operations to avoid critical gaps when no other funding is available. CERF generally focuses on fewer, large-scale grants to support the UN agencies and their partners deliver essential humanitarian assistance.
• The CBPFs and the Regional Humanitarian Funds (RHFs) allow donors to pool their contributions to support local humanitarian efforts in countries with high humanitarian needs across the region. They operate in a limited number of countries and provide predictable funding prioritzed locally by those closest to the people in need. The CBPFs and RHFs channel a high portion of their funding to a wide network of front-line national and international NGO partners, with allocations designed under the in-country leadership of RC/HCs ensuring context appropriate humanitarian assistance that reaches those most in need.