Statement delivered by Ambassador Schoulgin Nyoni, Deputy Permanent Representative of Sweden at the CERF High Level Pledging Conference, United Nations, 8 December 2017, New York.
Secretary-General Guterres, Excellences, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
In a world marked by dramatically increasing humanitarian needs, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund – the CERF – is a cornerstone of our humanitarian system.
The CERF is one of the true success stories of the humanitarian reform process. The fund’s flexible funding model enables a rapid, effective and principled humanitarian response to the needs of people affected by conflicts and natural disasters across the globe. Sweden is proud to be a longstanding and leading donor to the CERF.
In Somalia, early engagement from the Fund contributed to the prevention of famine as a result of drought. In Bangladesh, the Fund has been a critical source of financing for the provision of assistance and protection to the over 800 000 Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Rakhine State, in neighbouring Myanmar. In these – and other crises – the CERF is responding to those people who are most in need.
The CERF has a clear value added for the humanitarian response system. It empowers OCHA and the ERC and strengthens the relevance of the UN coordination system by providing them with the ability to act quickly in time-critical situations as well as in forgotten crises. It brings donor partners together; creating a tool that allows UN Member states to share responsibility. Its effectiveness and efficiency make the CERF excellent value for money: essential in a world where every humanitarian aid dollar counts.
We are impressed by the way the CERF continues to deliver results on transparency, effectiveness and impact.
Mr Chair,
The CERF remains a core pillar of Sweden's humanitarian engagement. Today, I am happy to announce that our contribution for 2018 will be significantly higher than last year. Pending parliamentary approval, we will increase our support to the CERF next year by 70 million Swedish Krona (SEK). This will bring Sweden’s contribution to the CERF in 2018 to 695 million SEK, equivalent to 83 million USD. With this pledge, Sweden reiterates its commitment to being an engaged and strategic partner to the CERF.
With the aim of enhancing the predictability and flexibility of Sweden’s core contributions to multilateral organizations, the government will, this year, also seek parliamentary approval for multi-year agreements with a handful of organisations, including the CERF. A multi-year core contribution agreement would confirm Sweden’s commitment to the CERF. It would also signal our expectation that the CERF continues to strengthen its operating model through strong analysis, improved standard of operations as well as quality reporting and evaluations. We hope that multiyear funding by Sweden will inspire other donors to adopt a similar approach.
Mr Chair, dear colleagues,
While we are a proud donor and partner of the CERF, it is unsustainable that the top-five donors provide the lion’s share of the CERF’s funding. It is crucial that the UN and OCHA reach out and demonstrate the value of the CERF to more donors. I strongly encourage all UN Member States to heed the Secretary-General’s call to increase their contributions to the CERF this year and next in order to help reach the target of 1 billion US dollars by 2018. Every contribution matters.
Thank you.