Pooled Funds and Innovation: Good Practices

Published on March 11, 2026

In the context of the Humanitarian Reset, pooled funds are receiving renewed and heightened attention. Country-Based Pooled Funds (CBPFs) have sought to increase their financing and reach, while concerted efforts are underway to map and strengthen complementarity among the diverse landscape of pooled funds – including UN-led, NGO-led, feminist funds, refugee-led, and locally-led mechanisms.

At the same time, a growing number of pooled funds are pioneering new forms of innovative financing and actively building bridges between development and climate finance on one hand, and local and national NGOs on the other. These efforts reflect a broader recognition that pooled funds can serve not only as delivery mechanisms, but as catalysts for systemic change.

Yet despite this momentum, questions remain about pace, scale, and coherence. What are the current good examples of pooled fund innovation? What is actually working – and for whom? And critically, how can these models be documented, shared, and accelerated to maximise their contribution to localisation and humanitarian effectiveness?

 

Other news

Statement by Regional Directors of 14 INGOs in the Middle East Region

March 4, 2026
Joint statement by 14 Regional Directors of INGOs raising urgent concern over the accelerating military escalation across the Middle East and wider region, along with the devastating impact that expanding violence has on communities.It calls for an immediate end to attacks, strict adherence to international humanitarian law, and decisive political action to protect civilians, their essential infra

Navigating Financing Transitions

March 11, 2026
The humanitarian sector is undergoing a significant contraction in grant financing, with profound consequences for local and national NGOs (L/NNGOs) that have depended on international funding flows. While anecdotal evidence of the impact is accumulating – including concerns about the erosion of localisation commitments made under the Grand Bargain and related frameworks – a deeper, more structure