Country-Based Pooled Funds (CBPF) Explained: How Local NGOs Can Apply

Country-Based Pooled Funds are one of the most important — and least understood — funding mechanisms available to local and national NGOs operating in major humanitarian crises, including the Syria response across Jordan and Lebanon. Unlike a standard bilateral donor grant, a CBPF is managed collectively through the UN humanitarian coordination system, with its own distinct application process. This guide explains how it works.

How a CBPF Works

A Country-Based Pooled Fund collects contributions from multiple government and institutional donors into a single fund for a specific country response, managed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) under the authority of the Humanitarian Coordinator for that country. Rather than NGOs applying separately to each contributing donor, they apply once, to the fund itself, with allocations decided against the priorities set out in that country’s current Humanitarian Response Plan.

The Application Process, Step by Step

Most CBPF cycles begin with OCHA announcing an allocation strategy, specifying which sectors, geographic areas and population groups are prioritized for that particular funding round. Eligible organizations — which typically must first complete a due diligence and capacity assessment process to be added to the fund’s partner roster — then submit a concept note outlining their proposed project. Concept notes that pass an initial technical and strategic review are invited to submit a full proposal, which goes through further review (including by relevant sector/cluster leads) before funding is approved and a grant agreement is signed.

This multi-stage structure means CBPF timelines are often longer than a direct bilateral grant, but it also means local and national NGOs get access to a funding stream they might never reach through a direct application to a government donor’s own country office.

What Local and National NGOs Need to Prepare

Getting onto a CBPF’s eligible partner roster typically requires demonstrating basic organizational capacity: registered legal status, functioning financial management and procurement systems, a track record of project implementation, and the ability to pass a capacity assessment covering governance, financial controls and program management. Organizations that haven’t yet formalized these systems should prioritize doing so before a CBPF cycle opens, since the due diligence process itself can take weeks to months and isn’t something that can be rushed once an allocation strategy is announced.

The Localization Agenda and What It Means Here

Humanitarian donors and the UN system have made explicit commitments to direct a larger share of funding to local and national NGOs rather than international intermediaries, and CBPFs are one of the primary mechanisms through which this commitment gets implemented in practice. This has meant real, measurable increases in the share of CBPF funding going directly to local and national organizations in several country contexts over recent years — though the pace and scale of that shift still varies significantly by country and by fund. Organizations that build CBPF eligibility early are positioning themselves to benefit as this trend continues.

CBPF vs. Direct Bilateral Funding: Key Differences

Preparing for the Capacity Assessment

• Confirm your organization’s legal registration documents are current and readily available
• Document your financial management and procurement procedures in writing, even if informally followed today
• Compile evidence of past project implementation, including completion reports or evaluations where available
• Review your governance structure (board, oversight mechanisms) and be ready to describe it clearly
• Identify a staff member who can serve as the primary point of contact through what can be a multi-week assessment process

If you’re based in Jordan or Lebanon and want to understand CBPF funding alongside other mechanisms, our Funds for NGOs — Middle East program covers this directly.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often do CBPF allocation cycles open?

This varies by country fund, with some running one or two major standard allocations per year plus periodic reserve allocations for emergencies — check directly with the specific country’s OCHA-managed fund for its current cycle.

Can a newly registered NGO apply to a CBPF?

Most CBPFs have a track-record requirement as part of the capacity assessment, which can be a barrier for very newly registered organizations — partnering with an eligible organization or building a track record through smaller grants first is a common pathway in.

Is CBPF funding only for emergency response, or also longer-term projects?

CBPFs are primarily designed for humanitarian response aligned with the country’s Humanitarian Response Plan, which can include both immediate emergency activities and early recovery components, but generally not long-term development programming.

Can an organization apply to a CBPF and a bilateral donor for the same project?

Generally no — most donors require disclosure of all funding sources for a project and will not fund the same activities twice, though complementary funding for different components of a larger program is sometimes possible with proper disclosure.

What Happens After the Grant Agreement Is Signed

Securing CBPF funding is the beginning of a distinct compliance relationship, not the end of the process. CBPF-funded projects are typically subject to monitoring visits, financial spot-checks and specific reporting formats set by the fund, which may differ from what your organization is used to with other donors. Organizations new to CBPF funding should budget staff time specifically for this compliance relationship — including risk monitoring visits that can occur with limited advance notice — rather than assuming it will run identically to a standard bilateral grant once the agreement is signed.

About Strategia Netherlands

Strategia Netherlands is a training provider based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused specifically on the humanitarian and development sector. We work with NGOs, UN agencies and government partners across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and every course we run is built and updated by facilitators with direct field, donor or policy experience rather than academic staff alone. This blog draws on the same practitioner-informed approach we bring to our courses — practical, specific guidance you can apply directly, not general theory.

We publish guides like this one for the same reason we built our course curricula the way we did: most of the available material on these topics is either too academic to apply directly, or too generic to account for the specific constraints NGOs actually work under — limited budgets, small teams, and donors with real compliance expectations. If you found this guide useful, our related course goes several steps further, with individual feedback on your own project rather than general examples.

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