Established in 2006, the Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund (EHF) responds to conflict-related crises and disasters triggered by natural hazards, such as droughts, floods and disease outbreaks. Since its inception in 2006, the EHF has mobilized US$ 665.6 million and allocated $657 million to 1,117 projects through 63 partners, including United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The EHF continues to play an important role as a timely and flexible financing mechanism, supporting the humanitarian community to achieve its goals by funding the most critical humanitarian needs in the context of both the annual Humanitarian Requirements Document (HRD) and emerging unforeseen emergency needs. Contributors to the EHF include the Governments of the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United States of America.

Objectives of the EHF

The EHF is primarily aligned to support the delivery of humanitarian response identified under the Humanitarian Response Document (HRD) and supporting cluster strategies, but while retaining the flexibility to allocate funds to unforeseen emergency needs.

The EHF has the following main objectives:

1. To ensure more adequate, timely, flexible and effective humanitarian financing through the use of the pooled-funding mechanism
2. To ensure well-prioritized use of resources, primarily in support of the needs and strategies outlined in the national HRD
3. To empower the HC to enhance coordination
4. To support coordination efforts through the cluster approach
5. To improve partnerships between UN and non-UN actors

An effective tool to address needs