Jersey has been appointed to lead a key UN humanitarian working group.
Over the next year, the Island alongside Italy and the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) will co-chair the group and in doing so become the first non-member state to take up the prestigious role.
As co-chairs of the Pooled Fund Working Group (PFWG), Jersey and Italy will steer the discussion around important issues facing both the pooled fund donor base and wider humanitarian community. Co-chairs are responsible for prioritising themes, setting the agenda with OCHA and facilitating dialogue between government representatives, UN agencies and international and national non-government organisations.
Country Based Pooled Funds (CBPFs) are a valuable mechanism in countries affected by natural disasters and armed conflict, to deliver quick and effective assistance to the people who need it most. They allow Government donors to pool contributions into single, unearmarked funds that strengthen local humanitarian efforts and rapidly and directly support relief partners at the front lines of emergencies. The professional, transparent and low-cost administration of the funds make it an efficient and low-risk mechanism for JOA to provide multi-sectoral support to highly complex emergencies. Jersey has been supporters of CBPFs since 2016, supporting humanitarian response in protracted emergencies including Syria, the occupied Palestinian territories, Yemen, Ukraine, South Sudan and Central African Republic.
“For nearly a decade now, Jersey has been a valued contributor to the Country-Based Pooled Funds, supporting crises in places such as Ukraine, Yemen and the Central African Republic,” said Lisa Doughten, Director of Financing and Partnerships Division. “We look forward to further enhancing our collaboration with Jersey, who, as one of the new co-chairs of the Pooled Fund Working Group, will help to steer discussions on critical humanitarian issues.”
Jersey’s role as co-chair of the PFWG follows the Island’s membership to the Good Humanitarian Donorship Initiative (GHDI), an informal donor forum and network which facilitates collective advancement of humanitarian principles and good practice. Jersey’s membership, alongside other government donors including the UK, US and Germany, highlights JOA’s continued commitment to humanitarian coordination. JOA were formally welcomed as a member in a meeting over the summer where delegates discussed their respective challenges and priorities and included a briefing from former UN Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator to Ukraine, Denise Brown.
Current GHD co-chairs, Helen Kaljuläte (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Estonia) and Peter McDermott (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK), said: “We are delighted to welcome Jersey Overseas Aid as the 43rd member of the Good Humanitarian Donorship initiative. We look forward to working with them to collectively promote principled and effective humanitarian actions that meet the needs of the most vulnerable”
JOA currently allocates approximately 25% of its annual budget to emergency response, providing financial support to pre-approved humanitarian partners delivering life-saving assistance to populations affected by natural disasters and conflict. Recent allocations include emergency food relief in Haiti, through the UN’s World Food Programme, and protection and legal support in Sudan through the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR.
Jersey’s Minister for International Development, Deputy Carolyn Labey, said: “Jersey’s membership to the Good Humanitarian Donorship Initiative and role as co chairs of an important UN working group is testament to the Island’s growing reputation amongst government donors and humanitarian actors. JOA’s strength lies in its agility and effectiveness, and I am delighted that the agency is demonstrating to others how smaller, less traditional donors, can play a key role within the humanitarian system.”
Pictured: Country Based Pooled Fund operations at Plan International stabilisation centre in Damaturu, Nigeria. Credit: OCHA
