Rapid Response Funds - Lessons learntJuly 2009

The Rapid Response Fund (RRF) concept recognises that in a conflict situation you need to act quickly and that people on the ground have the best knowledge of how and where money needs to be spent. With this in mind, the RRF was set-up to provide local committees with money which they could spend without prior approval by a donor. This approach eliminated the delay of requesting funds from overseas funders and gave committees, made up of well-informed and capable local people, executive decision making over conflict interventions.

Independent evaluation of the RRF’s has now been completed and overall the RRF has been seen to be a positive intervention and the main criticism is not so much with the concept itself but the way it was managed and especially recorded. It has proven to be difficult in all cases to adequately identify the impacts of the RRF and information has been lost. As such, the true impact and activity of the RRF has not always been reflected in the evaluations and this needs to be addressed in the future.

To read the evaluation of Rapid Response Funds in full click http://www.peacedirect.org/wp-content/uploads/rrf-lessons-learnt.pdf

To read the evaluation of the Kenya Rapid Response Fund in full click http://www.peacedirect.org/wp-content/uploads/rrf-evaluation-kenya-02-06-09-final.pdf

To read the evaluation of the Nepal Rapid Response Fund in full click http://www.peacedirect.org/wp-content/uploads/nepal.pdf