Iraq: NGO Micro Grant Expanded Humanitarian Response Fund Bulletin No. 13

ERF: the Expanded Humanitarian Response Fund (ERF) aims to help fill critical humanitarian gaps within different sectors through readily available flexible funding for emergency response. The maximum grant is $400,000.

NGO Micro Grant: the NGO Micro Grant provides small-scale funds to enable targeted and responsive emergency projects primarily by Iraqi NGOs. The maximum grant is $50,000.

Operational Updates:

The Expanded Humanitarian Response Fund (ERF):

Project and Financial Status:

Seven new funding proposals for projects in food and non-food items (Sulaymaniyah and Ninewa), Protection (Baghdad), Agriculture (Thi Qar) and Health (Wasit, Dohuk and Ninewa) sectors were submitted to the ERF for consideration in October 2008. A total of 67 project proposals/funding have been received since August 2007. International NGOs account for 22 of these proposals while Iraqi NGOs have submitted 45 projects. The ERF's Technical Review Committee (TRC) has approved 45 funding requests of the total 67 project proposals. One national NGO project proposal will be funded by IOM and integrated within one of its programmes. Thirty ERF-funded projects have been completed and 15 are ongoing. The total cost of the funded 45 projects is $7,552,000.00.

Eight projects, totaling an estimated $1,000,000 are currently under review (2 are pending TRC approval). Consideration of the eligibility of six projects has been discontinued following the failure by the applicants to provide satisfactory additional information. A total of seven projects have been declined funding, four by the Technical Review Committee (TRC) and three at the Sector Outcome Team screening level. A breakdown of the funded projects and where they have or are being implemented is illustrated below. Partners currently implementing ongoing ERF-funded projects include: Mercy Corps, Voice of Independent Women Organization, Heartland Alliance and Muslim Aid.

Contributions to the ERF:

The ERF has received a total of $8,261,767 in contributions since August 2007 (3% of funding is dedicated to the administration of the fund). A $15m million grant to the ERF was approved on 7 July by the International Reconstruction Fund for Iraq (IRFFI) from the Iraq Trust Fund (ITF). The final decision on the grant proposal is expected in November.