On October 10, 2014, Canada announced a contribution of $2 million over 18 months to the Humanitarian Coalition for the creation of the Canadian Humanitarian Assistance Fund (CHAF).
The CHAF was created in response to the growing number of smaller-scale, rapid-onset disasters that affect millions of people each year across the globe. It is an innovative humanitarian funding mechanism that is allocated to member agencies of the Humanitarian Coalition for crisis response based on established criteria. Project funding provided through the CHAF for any single project ranges between $100,000 and $350,000.
There have been six CHAF disbursements thus far:
- April 28, 2014 - $262,500 – Supporting Save the Children Canada’s response to the needs of internally displaced people affected by the conflict in Anbar Province, Iraq.
- May 29, 2014 - $150,000 – Supporting Oxfam-Québec’s four-month project to respond to the needs of displaced people in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.
- June 27, 2014 - $300,000 – Supporting Plan Canada’s response to gaps in nutrition and primary health services for Central African Republic refugees in East Region, Cameroon.
- July 22, 2014 - $187,500 – Supporting CARE Canada’s response to the needs of Nigerian refugees in Niger.
- September 1, 2014 - $225,000 – Supporting Oxfam Canada’s response to the needs of people affected by flooding and landslides in Nepal.
- September 17, 2014 - $254,383 – Supporting CARE Canada’s response to the needs of people affected by flooding in Bangladesh.
Combined, the members of the Humanitarian Coalition are present in more than 120 countries. With the large geographic distribution of their long-term development programs throughout the developing world, Humanitarian Coalition members are often present on the ground and have the capacity to respond when sudden-onset disasters occur. Their local knowledge, community-level relationships and program capacity all serve to facilitate rapid and appropriate responses to localized disasters.
The CHAF is different from, and complementary to, other existing humanitarian funding mechanisms in Canada’s humanitarian assistance funding toolkit. The CHAF will help to ensure timely, needs-based assistance is provided to vulnerable people in situations not requiring a large-scale response.
Initially formed in 2005, the Humanitarian Coalition is Canada’s only joint appeal mechanism for humanitarian assistance. It comprises CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Québec, Plan Canada and Save the Children Canada.
The Humanitarian Coalition works to reduce unnecessary competition, inform the public about humanitarian needs, increase the impact of Canadian humanitarian responses and reduce administrative costs. To date, the Humanitarian Coalition has successfully launched 13 separate appeals in response to humanitarian needs worldwide.
