IASC Guidance for CAP Project Selection and Prioritisation, 2004

To strengthen coordinated humanitarian response and to convince donors to give generously and according to needs and priorities, the humanitarian community developed a Consolidated Appeal (CAP) to respond to a specific crisis. A consolidated appeal document is produced once a year for major on-going emergencies. The following Guidance, endorsed by the IASC Working Group in 2004, addresses the issue of prioritisation and selection, which refers to the process of focusing the collective efforts of the humanitarian community on the most urgent assistance and protection needs in a crisis. This process should result in agreement on which projects are required to respond to humanitarian need.

At the time the guidance was published, donors had been calling for a rigorous process of prioritisation, based on needs assessment and led by UN Humanitarian Coordinators. They have welcomed examples of good practice in the field, such as clear criteria for prioritisation and the establishment of technical-level project peer reviews, to examine organisations’ projects during the preparation of consolidated appeal documents and their revisions or mid-year reviews. In 2004, the Emergency Relief Coordinator committed to strengthening prioritisation in the CAP. This note, based on precedent and good practice from a number of countries, provides guidance on how criteria and an inter-agency project peer review approach can be applied for future Consolidated Appeals.