Annex XXVIII. B. ERF Annual Report Guidelines (For Long Version)
ERF Annual Report – Guidance and Template Outline
Product owner / Humanitarian CoordinatorFocal Point / OCHA ERF Manager is responsible for drafting the report
Purpose / The annual report presents ERF activities and strategies that were implemented with the aim to provide rapid and flexible funding within country contexts, thereby addressing gaps in humanitarian needs.
The annual report can serve as accountability and transparency measure, and a public information and fund-raising tool. A comprehensive annual report should meet donor reporting requirements.
Frequency / The annual report should be completed by June of the following fiscal year and published once per year.
Audience / The annual report has multiple audiences with differing requirements. The primary audiences to consider are donors, MemberStates, advisory boards and fund recipients. Humanitarian Country Teams, new NGOs, potential new donors, humanitarian partners and other offices have an interest in the reports from country-based pooled funds.
Content / The content should include financial and programme results on the performance of ERF activities. The report should explain any deviations in performance against the original plan. The level of detail and length of the report will vary from office to office depending on the size of the fund, the number of projects approved and undertaken, the time of inception of the ERF in the country and the capacity of the ERF Unit in the country office.
Information for the annual report should be gathered from the reports submitted by implementing partners and OCHA staff. This includes the concept note, narrative and financial reports, and reports on monitoring and evaluation.
Review Process / The Funding Coordination Section (FCS) will review and endorse the report from a programmatic perspective. The Administrative Office (AO) in Geneva will review and endorse the report from a financial perspective.
Distribution / After review and endorsement by FCS and AO, the Resource Mobilization Section (RMS) will send annual reports to donors (if required). Field offices can send the report to field-based donors and partners, and post on field websites. FCS will help disseminate to stakeholders and post on internal and external websites.
Format:
Outline for the report / 1)Note from the Humanitarian Coordinator (2 pages max.)
■ The Humanitarian Coordinator, in his/her capacity as the overall manager of the ERF, has the opportunity to introduce the ERF projects and highlight activities/impact within the country’s humanitarian context.
■ This is also a chance to thank donors and humanitarian partners, and promote the concept of ERF as an effective humanitarian funding tool.
2)Executive Summary (2 pages max.)
■ Provide a brief overview of the humanitarian context, followed by summary breakdown of ERF activities and allocations.
■ OCHA’s role in coordinating and managing the fund.
■ In addition to a short narrative the following are recommended:
■ Financial tables and/or graphs summarizing ERF allocations per sector
■ Country map
■ Glossary/Acronyms
3)Information on contributors (2 pages max)
■ Donor contribution table (donor trends if they contributed in the past to ERFs in the country)
4)Fund overview (summary of allocations)*
■ Funding going to:National and international NGOs vs. the UN
■ Emergency response vs. preparedness or innovative funding (if any)
■ Cluster activities: project results, number of beneficiaries (include gender considerations)
■ * Two tables provided: Summary of ERF allocations and Results of ERF projects per cluster
5)Summary and analysis of achievements (3 pages max.)
■ Focus on results and impact:
- Describe the humanitarian situation in the country requiring ERF funding.
- What were the project goals?
- Highlight achievements (what was ERF’s added value within the country
context?)
■ Methodology for needs-based allocations:
- How were the projects selected, prioritized and screened for quality?
■ How rapidly were the funds disbursed?
■ Was ERF flexible enough to meet immediate needs?
■ Did ERF funding strengthen overall humanitarian coordination and response?
6)Project monitoring (2 pages max.)
■ What is OCHA’s ERF monitoring plan and capacity of the funded projects?
- Monitoring capacity should be built into the overall ERF management
structure.
- The procedures and format should be streamlined as muchas
possible while maintaining flexibility.
■ How many projects (percentage) were actively monitored?
7)Gender consideration (2 pages max. to summarize/highlight inputs from the “Results of ERF Projects per Cluster” table)
■ Mainstreaming of gender considerations into ERF project design and implementation: “The Gender Marker measures the degree to which humanitarian financing promotes gender equality and by reducing inequalities based on sex, either through gender mainstreaming and/or targeted actions based on gender analysis.”
8)Conclusion (3 pages max.)
■Innovations and comments on the outlook for the coming year. Include best practices and lessons learned.