Regional Humanitarian Pooled Fund for West and Central Africa

The Regional Humanitarian Pooled Fund for West and Central Africa (RHPF WCA) was established in June 2021 as the first-ever regionally hosted Pooled Fund managed by OCHA. The Fund is dedicated to addressing humanitarian crises in the Central Sahel and Lake Chad basin regions and operates in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and, starting in 2024, Chad.

The Fund’s core mandate is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and uphold human dignity, based on needs and priorities identified by humanitarian actors on the ground. As the humanitarian crisis in the Central Sahel and Lake Chad basin deepens—driven by forced displacement, resource conflicts, climate change, and insecurity linked to non-state armed groups—the Fund remains a vital lifeline for millions, especially in underserved communities and hard-to-reach areas.

This innovative pooled funding mechanism offers exceptional flexibility, enabling local, national, and international humanitarian actors to address the most pressing humanitarian needs in a constantly evolving context. By delivering critical resources where they are needed most, the RHPF WCA plays a vital role in ensuring timely emergency responses and laying the groundwork for longer-term resilience for crisis-affected communities. The Fund promotes a coordinated regional approach to tackle interconnected issues, cross-border challenges, and shared dynamics among the countries it supports.

The RHPF WCA is operationally managed by OCHA’s Regional Humanitarian Financing Unit, located in Dakar, Senegal. This is done in close collaboration with each OCHA country office where the funding tool operates. This ensures that the Fund is rooted in and connected to the epicenter of the crisis, with allocation and monitoring processes close to partners and projects on the ground.

This approach allows for the benefits of pooled funding to be extended to the entire region in a more cost-effective way.

Since 2024, the Fund has actively promoted a shift toward humanitarian decision-making processes that put the affected communities in the driving seat, in line with piloting the Flagship Initiative in Niger.