We Fund

The emergency pooled fund for the oPt, the oPt Humanitarian Fund (oPt HF), is primarily aligned to support the delivery of strategic humanitarian response identified under Humanitarian Response Plan while retaining the flexibility to allocate funds to unforeseen events or special requirements. The fund is driving funding to needs-based priority sectors and geographic areas. The oPt HF has the following main objectives:

Support life-saving and life-sustaining activities while filling critical funding gaps;

Promote needs-based assistance in accordance with humanitarian principles;

Strengthen coordination and leadership primarily through the function of the HC and by leveraging the cluster system;

Improve the relevance and coherence of humanitarian response by strategically funding priorities as identified under the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP);

Expand the delivery of assistance in hard-to-reach areas by partnering with national and international NGOs.

Further, the oPt HF aims to ensure that humanitarian needs are addressed in a collaborative manner, fostering cooperation and coordination within and between clusters and humanitarian organizations. As such, the oPt HF contributes to improving needs assessments, enhancing the HRP as the strategic planning document for humanitarian action, strengthening coordination mechanisms, in particular the cluster system, and improving accountability through an enhanced monitoring and reporting framework. Interventions supported by the oPt HF are to be consistent with the core humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.

The oPt HF is managed by OCHA on behalf of the Humanitarian Coordinator with the support the Review Board. In addition, an Advisory Board provides general policy and strategy guidance on the overall oPt HF process and priorities. Members of the oPt HF Advisory Board include the donors to the fund and representatives of national and international NGOs and UN agencies.

oPt HF allows partners to start the application process for eligibility throughout the year outside the allocation processing period (approximately one week before opening the allocation process and one month after closing the process). The eligibility process consists of several steps.

Step 1: Preliminary Screening of Prospective Partners

Before the capacity assessment process begins, prospective partners undergo a preliminary screening to determine if they meet basic minimum standards. This screening includes a questionnaire that assesses the organization's experience in humanitarian operations, adherence to humanitarian principles, the existence of required policies, and protection against abuse. If an organization does not meet the criteria, the eligibility process stops. Prospective partners can self-assess their eligibility and fill out the questionnaire even when applications are not being accepted. Feedback on the screening results is provided to organizations that do not meet the criteria.

Download the oPt HF Preliminary Screening Questionnaire Form here.

Step 2: Registration in the UN Partner Portal and Grants Management System

Prospective partners who want to apply for oPt HF eligibility must register in the UN Partner Portal (UNPP) and provide necessary documents such as governance documents, organizational charts, annual reports, audit reports, and ethics policies. Partners should ideally register in UNPP before the preliminary screening. Registration in UNPP is mandatory, and failure to register prevents partners from proceeding further in the eligibility process.

Step 3: Due Diligence and Capacity Assessment

Once registered in the UNPP, partners move on to the due diligence (DD) and capacity assessment (CA) process. During this step, partners submit required documents and undergo a review of their capacity and compliance with minimum requirements. The DD and CA process assesses institutional, technical, management, and financial capacity. The assessment is divided into three sub-components: due diligence, verification of excluding questions, and capacity assessment. The capacity assessment evaluates governance and institutional capacity, program and partnership capacity, operational and financial capacity, and protection against sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA). Each section is assessed using a questionnaire, and partners must achieve a minimum score of 60% in the operational and financial capacity section to be eligible.

Step 4: Assignment of Initial Risk Level

Based on the score obtained during the capacity assessment, partners are assigned an initial risk level: high, medium, or low. The assigned risk level determines the applicable operational modalities, grant conditionalities, and oversight activities. Partners who pass the capacity assessment are deemed eligible, while those who score below the threshold are considered ineligible. Organizations that narrowly miss the eligibility threshold may be conditionally eligible and can become eligible with a high-risk level after implementing corrective measures.

Exceptions to the capacity assessment requirement can be made in exceptional cases where funding is urgently needed for critical or life-saving activities. In such cases, alternative methodologies for determining eligibility can be used with proper justification.

Step 5: Feedback and Capacity Strengthening

The feedback and capacity strengthening process is an integral part of the oPt HF eligibility process. It ensures transparency and provides organizations with notifications and feedback reports at each step of the process. For organizations that reach the Due Diligence and/or Capacity Assessment stages, detailed feedback reports are generated, highlighting findings and recommended areas for improvement. Recommendations are categorized by their criticality level, and partners are required to implement corrective measures within specified timelines. Failure to implement these measures may result in non-compliance measures, including suspension of eligibility. Conditionally eligible partners must implement critical recommendations to gain full eligibility, while ineligible organizations receive feedback and support to develop capacity strengthening plans. The feedback and capacity strengthening process aims to assist organizations in meeting eligibility requirements and accessing oPt HF funding.

This CBPF Eligibility Guidance Note describes the process in detail.

Under the direction of the Humanitarian Coordinator [HC], the oPt Humanitarian Fund [oPt HF] aims to support the timely allocation and disbursement of donor resources to the most critical humanitarian needs, as defined by the Humanitarian Response Plan [HRP], while retaining flexibility to allocate funds to unforeseen emergency needs and critical gaps as they emerge. In order to meet this goal, the oPt HF has two allocation processes.

Standard Allocation

Process through which most of the funds will be allocated to ensure funding for priority projects in line with the HRP, usually occurring twice a year after the launch of the annual HRP and following the HRP mid-year review, depending upon funding levels.

Reserve Allocation

The reserve allocation is intended for rapid and flexible allocation of funds in response to unforeseen circumstances, emergencies, or contextually relevant needs. The reserve allocation process is significantly quicker and lighter than the standard allocation process.

The Standard and Reserve Allocations are completed within specified periods of time to allow implementing partners to respond in a timely manner. For all allocations, the HC publishes an allocation strategy paper that specifies the sectors and activities eligible for funding, developed by OCHA in coordination with the relevant Clusters. The oPt HF Advisory Board reviews and endorses the allocation strategy paper.

The allocation strategy paper also lists the key strategic and technical criteria which project proposals must adhere to, such as value for money, monitoring requirements, beneficiary selection, as well as guidance on cross-cutting issues of access, protection mainstreaming and gender responsiveness in humanitarian response.

The project cycle management process for the oPt HF is done through OHA’s Grant Management System [GMS], an online platform allowing for better management and institutional memory of all CBPFs. oPt HF partners use this interface to submit project proposals and reports, and the HFU coordinates project review, monitoring and partner performance.

The oPt Humanitarian Fund (oPt HF) is a pooled funding mechanism under the overall authority of the Humanitarian Coordinator (HC), supported by an Advisory Board, OCHA, and the response cluster leads.

The HC determines the Fund’s strategic focus, sets the allocation amounts, approves projects and initializes disbursements. The HC chairs the oPt HF Advisory Board that is comprised of senior-level representatives of donors, UN agencies, national and International NGOs. The core function of the oPt HF Advisory Board is to support the HC on the strategic focus, ensuring that the allocations are in line with the oPt Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) and that the main objectives of the Fund are met.

Cluster Leads support the oPt HF processes at three levels:

1. Strategic level, cluster leads should ensure that there are linkages between the fund, the HRP and cluster strategies;
2. Operational level, cluster coordinators provide technical expertise to the process of project prioritization and to the technical review of projects
3. Consult in revision requests

Under the overall supervision of the OCHA Head of Office, the Humanitarian Financing Unit (HFU) ensures adequate and efficient management the Fund, including the coordination of allocation processes and oversight of the entire funding cycle from the opening of an allocation to the closure of projects, while providing technical support and policy advice to the HC.

The HFU maintains accountability requirements, including risk management and operational modalities, as well as coordination with other units of the OCHA Country Office and sub-offices. Further, the HFU ensures donor contributions are channelled to partners in compliance with OCHA’s Global Guidelines for Country-based Pooled Funds.

In order to allow for the proper management and oversight of the oPt HF, a number of key documents have been developed:

• Global HF Guidlines (English) (Arabic)
• oPt HF operational manual
• GMS help portal
• Annex 7. Eligibility Guidance Note
• Annex 9. CBPF Partner Guidance Note on Financial Misconduct
• Annex 10. CBPF Partner Guidance Note on Sexual Misconduct
• Annex 11. CBPF project budget and financial report template for NGOs
• Annex 11. CBPF Project budget and financial report template for UN agencies
• Annex 12. Final Narrative Reporting Template (8+3)
• Annex 13. FU1. Grant Agreement with NGOs
• Annex 13. FU3. Grant Agreement Amendment with NGOs
• Annex 14. FU2. Grant Agreement with UN Agencies
• Annex 14. FU4. Grant Agreement Amendment with UN Agencies
• Visibility Guidelines