10. This document provides guidance and summarizes the procedures to facilitate rapid access to funds from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE). It also outlines the corresponding approval thresholds, accountability, and the processes to capitalize, replenish, and internally manage the CFE.
Overview
20. WHO's governing body, the World Health Assembly, established the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies on 26 May 2015 as an internal financing mechanism and part of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE). The CFE fills a critical gap in financing at the beginning of an emergency to enable immediate action while the requesting office is mobilizing funding from other sources.
30. The CFE provides financing to WHO emergency operations for up to three months. Exceptionally, the funding may be extended up to six months if needs persist and no other funding is available. The CFE cannot be used to finance ongoing WHO Health Emergencies Programme costs.
40. The CFE is designed to allow the rapid release of funds for Incident Managers to meet the early performance standards set out in the Emergency Response Framework. Based on this principle, the CFE has a performance target of releasing up to US$ 500,000 within 24 hours of a request.
50. The Executive Director, WHE, is the Award Manager of the CFE and is herewith referred to as the "Award Manager." The Contingency Fund Manager (CF Manager) is responsible for facilitating the approval process for new requests, liaising with HQ Finance to create new awards, monitoring implementation and following up with IMs to review financial reports and obtain technical reports. The requestor and/or the Incident Manager is responsible for using the CFE funds and all related reporting requirements.
Eligibility period
60. CFE funds can be used in the first three months of WHO's response to either of the following:
- an event (such as a disease outbreak or an emergency with health and humanitarian consequences); or
- a potential event or risk recorded in WHO's Event Management System.
70. The CFE can be used once an event is 1) confirmed following verification or 2) graded through to three months after the onset of the WHO response.
80. For the purposes of the CFE, an event can include a disease outbreak, an emergency with health and humanitarian consequences or a significant escalation of either of these, including but not limited to an increase in the emergency grade. The CFE can also be used for a new event in the context of a protracted emergency.
90. If an emergency escalates significantly, or a new event occurs in the context of a protracted emergency and/or the grade of an emergency increases, the three-month eligibility period for CFE funds starts again at zero.
100. The Award Manager decides whether or not to restart the CFE fund eligibility period for a specific event when all of the following have taken place:
- official notification has been given by a WHO Office of new trends and/or new/worsening indicators more than three months after grading;
- a new WHO risk and needs assessment and/or official grading decision confirms that the risk and/or the grading has changed and
- Assistant Director-General, Emergency Response, has provided confirmation.
Allocations and reimbursements
110. For an emergency event that has not been graded (internal WHO grade or humanitarian emergency grade), a maximum of US $ 50,000 can be requested from the CFE. There is no limit to the amount that can be requested from the CFE for graded events. Up to US$ 500,000 can be requested and fast-tracked within 24 hours. Amounts above US$ 500 000 can be requested but must be sent to the Award Manager for approval and can take longer than 24 hours to process.
120. The CFE can fund activities or temporary staff in a WHO workplan supporting WHO's response to an event. External partners and WHO Member States cannot apply to the CFE directly, nor can the CFE be used to provide funding to partners under external appeals. However, WHO can use CFE funds to procure goods and supplies or conclude agreements with external parties, and CFE funds can be used for Direct Financial Cooperation with Member States.
130. CFE allocations, including US$ 50,000 for a single event, are provided as grants.
140. CFE allocations exceeding US$ 50,000 for a single event are provided as a reimbursable loan. Allocations for a single event exceeding US$ 50,000 should be fully reimbursed, and the Incident Manager is expected to issue a donor alert/appeal and launch a resource mobilization effort along with the CFE request. Consequently, activities financed through the CFE must be included in proposals to donors to facilitate reimbursement of the CFE. Funding from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), for example, can be used to cover some of the costs borne by the CFE at the onset of a response by backdating the CERF project start date by up to six weeks before the disbursement date but no earlier than the start of the emergency. Reimbursement to the CFE will be processed by transferring expenditure incurred during an emergency against CFE awards to funding raised through resource mobilization efforts for a specific event.
150. The foundation of a CFE request is the initial plan of action for the acute response, including the budget, and is accompanied by a local donor alert. The plan of action needs to include the support required across the three levels of the Organization, with all potential surge support, ranging from local requirements to international support requested from outside the response. A donor alert/appeal and resource mobilization strategy should accompany the request.
160. CFE allocations are made in the following manner:
I. Event response award creation
170. An event response award is created to fund approved CFE requests, with one award per event. The event response award is distributed for approved requests based on instructions from the requestor/ Incident Manager.
II. CFE allocations
Graded events
180. For grade 3 events, the CF Manager or the Incident Manager establishes a dedicated emergency workplan (that is, an outbreak and crises response (OCR) workplan, normally at the country level, based on a generic emergency workplan template provided by headquarters (HQ)). This should be done within three days from the onset of the emergency. CFE awards to support a grade 3 event are allocated to the dedicated emergency workplan created specifically for each graded event.
Please refer to the relevant biennial OCR Operational planning guidelines at the Strategic Planning and Partnerships (SPP) or Planning, Resource Coordination, and Performance Monitoring Department (PRP) links for further information.
Immediate access
190. If there are delays in accessing CFE funding, an allocation can be provided against a general CFE workplan managed by the CF Manager under the Emergencies Programme at the HQ level.
200. The allocation is a Project Task Activity Expense Organization (PTAEO) under a HQ CFE workplan, which allows for immediate access to funds. The allocation can be made with an event response award or a general CFE award, pending establishing an event response award.
210. Any expenditure for graded events incurred against the HQ CFE workplan will be transferred to the event-specific workplan once established or to the workplan indicated by the requestor/Incident Manager for non-graded events. Any expenditure incurred against the general CFE award will be transferred to the event response award once established.
CFE request process
220. The requestor/IM submits a request to contingency-fund@who.int using the standard CFE request template. All CFE request emails and subsequent correspondence should be sent directly to or copied to contingency-fund@who.int to ensure a complete repository of information.
230. The CF Manager requests approval from WHE HQ/Assistant Director-General, Emergency Response, or their delegate for amounts up to and including US$ 500,000. Approval of the Award Manager is required for amounts exceeding US$ 500,000.
240. If the request is approved, the CF Manager coordinates with the Award Manager and the HQ Finance Department to establish the Event Response Award using the Disbursement Template and/or to provide a PTAEO for an Early Response Allocation, if required.
250. The CF Manager formally notifies the IM when action has been taken.
260. The Award Manager must approve requests originating from Directors in HQ.
CFE allocation, closure and reporting
270. All CFE income and expenditure are reported annually in WHO Financial Reports submitted to the World Health Assembly. The CFE website contains updated information on contributions from Member States and allocations, as well as related news stories and annual reports.
280. Three weeks after the event response award end date, the CF Manager at HQ generates an interim financial report based on financial information generated by the Global Management System (GSM). This interim financial report is shared with the Incident Manager for review with a request to settle all open encumbrances.
290. Any encumbrances open three months after the event response award end date will be liquidated. Any funds unspent or unencumbered three months after the end date of the CFE award will be returned to the CFE.
300. The CF Manager at HQ prepares a final financial report three months after the event response award end date, which is shared with the Incident Manager for review and confirmation. The Incident Manager is also responsible for producing a narrative report highlighting the use and impact of the CFE allocation, including high-resolution photos and human-interest stories. The report should be produced within one month of the award end date to be shared with the Award Manager and used to create advocacy material, including the CFE annual report. The CFE reporting template can be found here.
Interoperability of regional funds with the CFE
310. WHO has established regional emergency funds in five of six regions (the European Region does not have a regional emergency fund).
320. The African Public Health Emergency Fund (APHEF) is intended to support requests from WHO Member States, while other regional emergency funds support requests from WHO Member States and/or WHO offices, and the CFE support requests from WHO offices only. Thus, using the APHEF is separate and distinct from other regional emergency funds and the CFE.
330. In general, regional emergency funds other than the APHEF will be used to support WHO verification and risk assessment activities before grading and the initial WHO response to all emergencies, regardless of the grade.
340. The global CFE will be used for requests that exceed the USD limits for allocations from regional emergency funds or for requests that exceed 75% of the available balance in regional emergency funds.
Management and capitalization of CFE
350. The CFE is replenished through donor contributions outside the WHE core budget, directly to the CFE or through reimbursement from contributions against country response plans. Contributions to the CFE are pooled and unearmarked. This enables the CFE to fund the initial response to the broadest possible range of health emergencies.
360. As with any financial contribution to WHO, every dollar that goes into the CFE is administered per the Organization's financial rules and regulations. CFE income and expenditure are included in WHO Financial Reports, submitted annually to the World Health Assembly, and subject to internal and external auditing procedures. For every CFE allocation, an award is created in WHO's grant management system to track expenditures, monitor implementation and support financial reporting. Any unspent funds are returned to the CFE.
370. WHO issues an annual report for the CFE, which provides an overview of the use and impact of the CFE in the previous year in different contexts, including disease outbreaks, natural disasters and protracted crises. The annual report also includes financial data, such as contributions, allocations and expenditures. The annual report is the CFE's flagship publication, demonstrating the fund's effectiveness and value for money to donors. The annual report draws from narrative reports, media releases and human-interest stories provided by country offices to present a compelling case to provide further funding. This underscores the importance of providing a narrative report for each CFE allocation.
380. In addition to the annual report, the CFE website provides up-to-date information on contributions and allocations and a platform for related media stories and reports.
390. Regional and country offices are encouraged to provide the utmost visibility for the CFE and its donors through social media, press releases and web stories. CFE donors should be thanked and encouraged to continue supporting the Fund.
