Watch the video:  https://s3.amazonaws.com/downloads2.unmultimedia.org/public/video/evergreen/MSG+SG+/SG+29+Jun+22/2898332_MSG+SG+POOLED+FUNDS+REPORT+29+JUN+22.mp4

Today, over 300 million people in the world are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection – a grim record.

With our partners and donors, the United Nations is working on reaching the most vulnerable with help and hope.
 
This enormous task takes a dedicated humanitarian workforce. 
 
It takes expertise, policies, skills, and tools. 
 
And it takes financial resources. 
 
As High Commissioner for Refugees, I saw how CERF was one of the fastest ways to help people in urgent need – often within hours of a disaster.
 
The Country-Based Pooled Funds are also getting resources fast to organizations on the ground, in twenty hard-hit countries around the world. 
 
I thank all donors for last year’s record contribution of 1.7 billion dollars to these funds.

Fast and flexible, impartial and independent, the support they provide is driven by need alone.
 
Pooled funds help fight hunger in a world on the brink of a food security catastrophe due to conflict and climate events.

They bolster anticipatory and early action, most recently in the Horn of Africa, where people are facing the worst drought in four decades.
 
And on the first day of the war in Ukraine, a rapid response allocation from CERF enabled the United Nations and our partners to get help quickly to over 1.5 million people.
 
Thank you for backing CERF and our pooled funds.

Your support saves lives. And it is needed now, more than ever. 

Thank you.