Sudan Humanitarian Fund Operational Manual, June 2023

1. Introduction

1.1. Purpose and scope of the Operational Manual

1. The purpose of this Operational Manual is to adapt the CBPF Global Guidelines, which ensure a coherent and harmonised approach to the governance and operations of Country-based Pooled Funds (CBPFs), to the local context of Sudan. It does so by amending, where relevant, the Global Guidelines. Amendments are highlighted in bold, so to easily identify where the operational manual deviates from the Global Guidelines. As such, the Operational Manual deviates only from the Global Guidelines when the local context requires so. Annexes referred to in this manual can be found on the OCHA website.
2. The Global Guidelines set out arrangements that enhance the quality of CBPF practices and their accountability to stakeholders, including United Nations (UN) Member States, donors, humanitarian operational partners (hereafter referred to as ‘partners’), and people affected by disasters and emergencies.
3. The Global Guidelines describe minimum global standards for effective and efficient management of CBPFs, aligning approaches while recognising the contextual specificity of each Fund. They build upon the extensive experience of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) over many years of managing CBPFs in different country contexts. The Global Guidelines comprise this main body and annex
4. es, providing further details on certain topics.
5. Primary users of the Global Guidelines are OCHA Country Offices, in particular their Humanitarian Financing Units (HFUs), which support and manage the CBPFs. The Guidelines also serve as a reference document for partners, as they also describe the roles and responsibilities of Humanitarian Coordinators (HCs); OCHA; partners, including UN agencies, national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs);1 coordination platforms, including sectors/clusters; and other stakeholders.
6. The SHF was administered by the Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF) Office. At the time of issuance of this Operational Manual the administrative role is transferred to OCHA.
7. Each CBPF functions in a specific context and is managed by OCHA at the country level. While the Funds are required to align practices with the Global Guidelines, they retain the flexibility to build upon the minimum standards and adopt additional provisions to best meet the demands of that context. Where humanitarian objectives and operational requirements require deviation from minimum standards for financial and risk management,2 the HC may request approval of an exceptional waiver by OCHA’s Executive Officer (EO) – which will be considered in light of the corresponding justification and risk management implications. Under the leadership of the HC, OCHA HFU, in consultation with the Advisory Board (AB), the Sudan Humanitarian Fund has amended the Global Guidelines so to serve as an ‘Operational Manual’, describing specific arrangements appropriate to the context. Key elements of the Operational Manual include membership of governance bodies; steps in the allocation process; the accountability framework, including procedures for risk management, and financial and budgetary administration.
8. The Operational Manual is reviewed once a year. or when required by a significant change in the context, in line with changes in the Global Guidelines, learning and the continuing evolution of good practices (see section 1.6). When no substantive change to the Operational Manual is made, this should be discussed in the Advisory Board and the AB meetings need to acknowledge that a decision to keep the Operational Manual for an additional year was made.