Pakistan remains among the most disaster-prone countries, with a history of humanitarian emergencies caused by floods, drought, cyclones, earthquakes, crises and insecurity.
In 2010, the humanitarian community established the Emergency Response Fund (ERF) as a pooled fund mechanism to provide rapid and flexible funds in-country at the onset of an emergency, as an adjunct to other funding streams.
PHPFs allow Humanitarian Country Teams—who are best informed of the situation on the ground—to swiftly allocate resources where they are most needed.
The majority of PHPF funding acts as a bridge to cover gaps in humanitarian service provision to meet urgent humanitarian needs. In many cases, PHPF funding has been the only funding available to meet critical humanitarian needs.
Donor contributions enables funding to projects to provide food, water and shelter projects immediately following a disaster; life-saving nutrition and medical care; and basic life necessities for people struggling to survive in humanitarian emergencies. PHPFs can also be drawn down in situa-tions of underfunding of urgent needs in priority sectors.
PHPF plays a crucial role in providing funds to bridge gaps in delivery of humanitarian services in the country.