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A Guide to Giving
to the Afghanistan
Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF)
October 2014
A mother with her sick child in a Kandahar hospital. An estimated 165 children under the age of five die every day in Afghanistan.
Credit: OCHA/ Stephanie Julmy
BACKGROUND
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Afghanistan has been in protracted conflict for almost thirty five years, which has seriously strained the fabric of society
and depleted coping mechanisms. This has led to a substantial humanitarian crisis with 9 million people, or 33% of the
population, currently in need of life-saving assistance.
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Afghanistan has an estimated population of 27.5 million. More than 5.8 million people have returned to Afghanistan
since 2002, representing nearly a quarter of the population.
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Years of environmental degradation coupled with its topography and geology make Afghanistan extremely prone to
natural disasters. More than 150,000 people across the country lost their homes in 2014 due to extreme flooding and
landslides. Such sudden onset emergencies add to the some 116,000 conflict-displaced persons who were forced to
flee their homes in search of safety since September 2013.
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The Strategic Response Plan (SRP) 2014 addresses the most acute needs through life-saving interventions. Its four
strategic priorities are to provide emergency healthcare and access to critical services; respond to displacement and
refugee returnees; prevent protection infringements; and respond to natural disasters.
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The Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF) for Afghanistan was established in January 2014 by the Humanitarian
Coordinator as a strategic tool to assist the humanitarian community in achieving priorities of the SRP. The CHF is a
country-based 'pooled' fund which ensures that donors' contributions are used strategically to assist the humanitarian
community to fill critical gaps in the humanitarian response.
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The Humanitarian Coordinator supported by Cluster Coordinators and Co-Leads and the CHF Advisory Board, decides
on allocations to prioritized sectors and geographical areas based on current strategic priorities, and needsassessments.
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Australia, the Republic of Korea, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom have made contributions totaling US$32
million in 2014. The first CHF allocation in 2014 totaling $17.7 million supports 8 NGOs and 3 UN agencies in
addressing health and nutrition needs of more than 1.1 million people. A second allocation of $12.6 million, planned in
the last quarter of 2014, will assist children suffering from acute malnutrition, as well as provide support to the
humanitarian air service (UNHAS) to enable access of aid workers to remote locations.
www.unocha.org
The mission of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled
humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors.
Coordination Saves Lives •Celebrating 20 years of coordinated humanitarian action
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HOW CAN YOU HELP?
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Bilateral donors that wish to contribute to the CHF Afghanistan sign a Standard Administrative Arrangement (SAA)
with the UNDP Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF) Office in New York. All information regarding the payment modality of
contributions, including the terms and conditions, are detailed in the Standard Administrative Arrangement. This is a
standard agreement donors use to channel the funding to various UN Multi-Partner Trust Funds.
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Public and private sector contributors are invited to donate to the Afghanistan CHF through the United Nations
Foundation (http://bit.ly/AFGCHF). The UN Foundation enables you to transfer funds at maximum speed with minimal
transaction costs to directly help people in need.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SUPPORTING THE AFGHANISTAN CHF, PLEASE CONTACT:
Afghanistan Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF)
Ms. Catherine Howard
Deputy Head of Office and CHF Fund Manager
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA)
Kabul, Afghanistan
+93 (0)793001104 or howard1@un.org
Funding Coordination Section (FCS)
Ms. Anjala Illemassene
Resource Mobilization and Public Information Focal Point for Country-based Pooled Funds
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA)
New York, USA
+1 646 410 1515 or illemassenea@un.org
Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTF)
Ms. Fiona Bayat
Portfolio Manager
Bureau of Management, United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
New York, USA
+1 212 906 5102 or fiona.bayat@undp.org
USEFUL LINKS
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The HumanitarianResponse.info platform is provided to the humanitarian community as a means to aid in
coordination of operational information and related activities. The specific site for Afghanistan contains a dedicated
section on the CHF including key documents on policy, guidance and ongoing allocations on
https://afg.humanitarianresponse.info/funding/common-humanitarian-fund.
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The OCHA website on Afghanistan provides an overview of OCHA's activities and information products in support of
the coordination of the humanitarian response in-country on http://www.unocha.org/afghanistan.
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The Common Humanitarian Fund pages provide detailed information about the CHF, its processes and key
documents http://www.unocha.org/afghanistan/about-fund.
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The MPTF Office maintains a website for the CHF Afghanistan, which contains up-to-date information on the
contributions to the Fund, funded projects, disbursement and annual expenditure on
http://mptf.undp.org/factsheet/fund/HAF10.
www.unocha.org
The mission of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled
humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors.
Celebrating 20 years of coordinated humanitarian action