NGOs at the forefront of COVID-19 efforts with OCHA’s pooled funds

COVID-19 is testing the humanitarian community and its ability to help people in crisis. Flight cancellations, restrictions of movement and border closures are making it difficult for humanitarians to reach those most in need. Now more than ever, local solutions and networks are needed to quickly adapt so that life-saving efforts are maintained, and additional capacity is scaled up to contain the pandemic.

With their local knowledge and proximity to people in need, NGOs are at the heart of these efforts. They are critical for the humanitarian community to stay and deliver in an already challenging environment that is now further compounded by COVID-19. 

Al-Birr & Al-Ihsan NGO has set up mobile medical clinics in Syria's rural Aleppo to bring health care to communities in need. Credits: Al-Birr & Al-Ihsan/ Syria 

For OCHA’s pooled funds, NGOs are a key partner to reach people in need and have swiftly come to the centre of COVID-19 related efforts. Many of the 18 Country-based Pooled Funds (CBPFs) have longstanding partnerships with national and international NGOs which has made it easy to come together and prioritize funding for where it is needed the most. 

More than half of the US$ 71 million allocated by the CBPFs will be granted to NGOs directly. And $1 in every $3 from global allocations -excluding funding for logistics and procurement of supplies- from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) will go towards implementing partners, including local and government partners and the Red Cross/ Red Crescent.  

Maximum flexibility has been granted to all recipients in the use of funding, within the parameters of the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), to ensure a time-critical response with the greatest possible impact. Additional efforts have been made by CBPFs to support NGOs, including by enabling temporary flexibility through allowing simplifications in the current funding arrangements, yet keeping accountability over the use of funds, so that partners can easily adapt, reprogram or scale up efforts.

In Sudan, emergency funding from CERF is helping to sustain sexual-reproductive health (SRH) services during the COVID-19 crisis, with a focus on people with disabilities. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and local partners are scaling up efforts to ensure continuity of the referral systems for women and girls while also providing training to midwives on protection, hygiene and prevention measures in maternity units. “What we are doing is very important to defeating corona.” Yassir Ibrahim from the local NGO CAFA in White Nile State says.

After training and outreach campaigns, new COVID-19 prevention measures are being observed at maternity units in White Nile, Sudan. Credits: UNFPA/Sudan 

In neighboring South Kordofan State, CARE Sudan is setting up isolation centers in health facilities in two strategic locations and has trained 150 community volunteers to carry out COVID-19 specific awareness campaigns. Most of these activities were funded with additional allocations from the Sudan Humanitarian Fund (SHF) to scale up COVID-19 response across the country. But CARE Sudan also adapted existing SHF-funded efforts to observe specific prevention measures. “We requested for minimum reprogramming” Programme Director Ms Eatizaz Mohamed Yousif explains, “and changed the approach to observe social distancing” she adds.

CARE and partners are producing face masks in South Kordofan State, Sudan. Credits: CARE International/ Sara Azhari

In Yemen, the Humanitarian Fund (YHF) has partnered with the Abyan Youth Foundation (AYF) to include COVID-19 specific measures into existing programmes. AYF and partners are carrying out outreach and awareness campaigns for IDPs and host communities in Abyan and distribute much needed hygiene kits. “We heard the name Corona a lot but did not know what it was about. Now we know more how to protect ourselves”, says one of the beneficiaries.

Abyan Youth Foundation volunteers are conducting awareness raising campaign on COVID-19 prevention in the host community and IDPs sites in Khanfar and Zinjubar districts in Abyan Credits: AYH/Yemen 

In Myanmar, the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) is one of hundreds of local organizations that are working hard to make sure people living in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps have access to clean water to practice hygiene and protect themselves from the virus. With funding from the Myanmar Humanitarian Fund (MYH), KBC has worked with local communities to install a network of handwashing stations with soap across 15 IDP camps. More than 2,400 vulnerable men, women and children can now take the necessary hygiene measures to contain the spread of the virus.

A woman cleans her hands at a public handwashing station set up by KBC in Myanmar. Credit: KBC/ Myanmar 

These are just some of the achievements that have been made possible because of the generous funding donors have provided. Additional resources are urgently needed to help OCHA’s pooled funds maintain these life-saving efforts.

Today, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock has released a 6.7 billion appeal and updated global plan to fight COVID-19 in fragile countries and called for swift and determined action to avoid the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The COVID-19 pandemic is hurting us all. But the most devastating and destabilizing effects will be felt in the world’s poorest countries. Unless we take action now, we should be prepared for a significant rise in conflict, hunger, and poverty. The spectre of multiple famines looms.” Lowcock said.

OCHA’s pooled funds have been critical instruments to fight the pandemic and channel resources to where they are needed the most. So far, a combined total of $177.4 million have been allocated to support efforts across 37 countries. Additional countries are being identified under the Global Humanitarian Response Fund.

All latest information on funding and allocations is available in real-time via: https://pfbi.unocha.org/COVID19/