In 2012, the Emergency Response Fund (ERF) in DRC allocated $1,078,368 to implement nine projects that provide humanitarian support to 1,496,156 vulnerable people.

The ERF was established when the OCHA office opened in DRC in 2004. Since then, it has provided rapid and flexible funding to address gaps in humanitarian needs. ERF funding is usually allocated to meet unforeseen needs in line with the HAP objectives and identified priorities. ERFs increase opportunities for local actors, including NGOs, to respond to needs in areas where NGOs face access challenges due to security or political constraints.

Throughout 2012, much of DRC was in a state of complex emergency. Large sections of the population were at risk of different crises. They included the outbreak of conflict and violence in the east that displaced almost 400,000 people; the capture of Goma by M23 on 20 November; and several cholera outbreaks across the country during the year.  

The ERF filled critical gaps by financing three projects with IMC, Merlin and IRC. The projects focused on the cholera outbreaks, and facilitating access to basic medical assistance for more than 180,000 newly displaced people affected by the crises in Walikale and Masisi territories in North Kivu and Kalonge in South Kivu.
   
The ERF also financed four projects to fight the cholera outbreak in eight health zones (Lilanga Bobangi, Bosomondana, Pimu, Bolenge, Mbandaka, Wangata, Makanza and Lolanga Mapoko) in Equateur Province. These projects focused on 846,154 people affected by the outbreak. To improve the humanitarian community’s access to beneficiaries, ERF funded two logistics projects to rehabilitate a road in Kalonge territory and to maintain the runaway in Lodja town in Sankuru district, Oriental Province.