Global Humanitarian Thematic Funding
Saving lives, protecting rights and securing a better future for children through flexible funding.

UNICEF relies on voluntary contributions to uphold our mission of reaching every child. UNICEF seeks adequate and quality resources to support effective preparedness and timely response to humanitarian and protection needs, particularly of the most vulnerable populations. UNICEF thematic contributions are pooled, flexible multi-year funds to support the UNICEF Strategic Plan, 2022-2025, including humanitarian action.
Global humanitarian thematic funding (GHTF) is, after the Core Resources for Results (RR), the most flexible form of funding as it allows for rapid and strategic responses by UNICEF to humanitarian crises. GHTF makes it possible for UNICEF to deliver assistance to the most vulnerable children when and where it is needed and in a timely and effective manner. Such flexibility has been particularly important during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Why Global Humanitarian Thematic Funding is important
With Global Humanitarian Thematic Funding (GHTF), UNICEF and partners are able to:
Global Humanitarian Funding Allocations, 2023
As of 22 February
Destination | Total US$ |
Syrian Arab Republic |
3,000,000 |
Myanmar |
1,617,882 |
Haiti |
1,500,000 |
Yemen |
1,435,814 |
Republic of Cameroon |
1,060,580 |
Afghanistan |
1,000,000 |
Bangladesh |
1,000,000 |
Lebanon |
1,000,000 |
Sudan |
1,000,000 |
Democratic Republic of the Congo |
968,100 |
Burkina Faso |
832,200 |
South Sudan |
800,000 |
Pakistan |
750,000 |
Ethiopia |
650,000 |
Chad |
611,627 |
Colombia |
600,000 |
Iran |
600,000 |
Malawi |
600,000 |
Nigeria |
600,000 |
Venezuela |
600,000 |
East Asia and the Pacific Region |
500,000 |
Eastern and Southern Africa Region |
500,000 |
Europe and Central Asia Region |
500,000 |
Kenya |
500,000 |
Latin America and the Caribbean Region |
500,000 |
Mali |
500,000 |
Middle East and North Africa Region |
500,000 |
Somalia |
500,000 |
South Asia Region |
500,000 |
Türkiye |
500,000 |
West and Central Africa Region |
500,000 |
Central African Republic |
450,000 |
Kyrgyzstan |
400,000 |
Uganda |
400,000 |
Papua New Guinea |
350,000 |
Sri Lanka |
350,000 |
Thailand |
350,000 |
Mozambique |
346,547 |
Armenia |
300,000 |
Azerbaijan |
300,000 |
Dominican Republic |
300,000 |
DPR Korea |
300,000 |
Eritrea |
300,000 |
Algeria |
200,000 |
Benin |
200,000 |
Egypt |
200,000 |
Madagascar |
200,000 |
Togo |
200,000 |
Bolivia |
150,000 |
Chile |
150,000 |
Costa Rica |
100,000 |
Cuba |
100,000 |
El Salvador |
100,000 |
Guatemala |
100,000 |
Honduras |
100,000 |
Nicaragua |
100,000 |
Tajikistan |
100,000 |
Ecuador |
50,000 |
Peru |
50,000 |
Top resource partners to GHTF, 2022
As of 31 December
Ranking |
Name of Partner |
Total US$ |
1 | Netherlands | 21,716,649 |
2 |
United States Fund for UNICEF |
21,567,098 |
3 | German Federal Foreign Office | 20,682,523 |
4 |
Private sector fundraising by UNICEF country offices |
16,627,834 |
5 |
Swiss Committee for UNICEF |
12,232,416 |
6 | Sweden |
11,717,546 |
7 |
United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF |
4,796,483 |
8 |
Swedish Committee for UNICEF |
3,538,013 |
9 |
Dutch Committee for UNICEF |
2,868,301 |
10 |
Republic of Korea |
1,000,000 |
11 |
Denmark |
589,188 |
12 | Irish Committee for UNICEF | 518,486 |
13 |
Finnish Committee for UNICEF |
435,645 |
14 |
Danish Committee for UNICEF |
226,812 |
15 |
French Committee for UNICEF | 218,585 |
16 |
Canadian Committee for UNICEF | 143,830 |
17 |
Portuguese Committee for UNICEF | 36,654 |
18 | Belgian Committee for UNICEF | 34,148 |
19 |
Australian Committee for UNICEF | 31,189 |
20 |
UNICEF Hungarian Committee Foundation | 24,031 |
21 |
Slovak Foundation for UNICEF | 8,272 |
Grand Total |
119,013,702 |
We express our gratitude to the partners who supported GHTF, as their contributions are essential to UNICEF’s ability to reach the most vulnerable, crisis-affected and forgotten children. Each one of these resource partners, regardless of the size of their contribution, shares in the achievements of GHTF worldwide.
Global Humanitarian Funding Allocations, 2022
As of 30 November
Destination | Total US$ |
Ethiopia | 6,663,272 |
Somalia | 5,978,245 |
Yemen | 5,859,000 |
Burkina Faso | 5,500,000 |
Kenya | 4,000,000 |
Cluster Coordination** | 4,000,000 |
Mali | 3,208,076 |
Bangladesh | 1,785,000 |
South Sudan | 1,278,351 |
Niger | 1,235,063 |
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) | 1,150,000 |
Philippines | 1,058,026 |
Haiti | 1,000,000 |
Syrian Arab Republic | 1,000,000 |
State of Palestine | 879,560 |
Myanmar | 749,436 |
Colombia | 650,000 |
Pakistan | 650,000 |
East Asia and the Pacific Region | 600,000 |
Eastern and Southern Africa Region | 600,000 |
Cross-border response in Chile, Bolivia, and Peru | 600,000 |
Central African Republic | 500,000 |
Democratic Republic of Congo | 500,000 |
Kazakhstan | 500,000 |
Central America and Mexico (Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua) | 500,000 |
Libya | 500,000 |
Malawi | 500,000 |
Republic of Cameroon | 500,000 |
Sri Lanka | 500,000 |
Uganda | 500,000 |
Ukraine | 400,000 |
Iraq | 379,560 |
Armenia | 350,000 |
Ghana | 350,000 |
Guinea | 350,000 |
Latin America and the Caribbean Region | 350,000 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 300,000 |
Greece | 300,000 |
Nigeria | 300,000 |
South Asia Region | 300,000 |
Thailand | 300,000 |
Papua New Guinea | 280,000 |
Tonga | 250,000 |
Azerbaijan | 200,000 |
Benin | 200,000 |
Cote d’Ivoire | 200,000 |
Togo | 200,000 |
West and Central Africa Region | 200,000 |
Brazil | 193,658 |
Ecuador | 150,000 |
Algeria | 100,000 |
Burundi | 100,000 |
Eswatini | 100,000 |
Belarus | 93,658 |
Cuba | 40,000 |
Honduras | 40,000 |
Belize | 20,000 |
Jamaica | 20,000 |
*Above figures exclude allocations to HQ.
** Supports the cluster leadership role to enhance capacity at the field level prioritizing Levels 2 and 3 Emergencies.
GHTF Impact for Children: Examples from 2022
In 2022, flexible allocations from the Global Humanitarian Thematic Fund allowed country offices to ensure a robust response across multiple sectors, including nutrition; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); child protection and health.
Bangladesh

A timely GHTF allocation allowed UNICEF Bangladesh to implement a flood emergency response plan and assist 645,000 people, including 255,420 children and 15,480 people with disabilities.
Burkina Faso

UNICEF Burkina Faso used a GHTF allocation to strengthen the capacity of 35 staff on the new rapid response, placing a special emphasis on community resilience. As a result, UNICEF Burkina Faso managed to provide ready-to-use therapeutic food to 475 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
Bolivia

In March 2022, UNICEF Bolivia carried out a needs-assessment in coordination with UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration and government institutions, identifying the humanitarian needs of migrant children and adolescents.
Tajikistan

GHTF likewise supported UNICEF’s Co-Funding Initiative (CFI), which seeks to enhance the preparedness of UNICEF, partners, and local actors through the country and regional offices’ investments. The GHTF CFI, along with funds from BPRM, enabled the Tajikistan country office to increase its response capacity, preparing for a potential refugee influx from Afghanistan. UNICEF Tajikistan quickly reached over 20,000 children with education and protection supplies.
Allocation criteria
The directors of the Public Partnerships Division, Programme Division and Office of Emergency Programmes endorse the proposals for GHTF allocation. The proposals are then reviewed and approved by the Deputy Director of Programmes. A set of clear criteria is used to allocate GHTF at all levels – country, regional, multi-regional and global. These criteria include:
- Critical unmet needs for the most vulnerable children
- Critical funding gaps based on available and projected contributions
- Strong implementation capacity based on the delivery track records of regular country programmes
- Alignment with organization-wide initiatives aimed at strengthening the efficiency and effectiveness of UNICEF humanitarian action (e.g., the Humanitarian Review recommendations; the revised Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action, etc.) This can include gender-transformative programming; establishing effective mechanisms for the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse; accountability to affected populations; and localization strategies that emphasize anti-racism and anti-discrimination.
Previous results
Results from 2021
Top resource partners to GHTF, 2021
Rank |
Resource partner |
Total US$ |
|
Netherlands |
19.9m |
|
Swedish Committee for UNICEF |
3.1m |
|
Republic of Korea |
1.0m |
|
Australian Committee for UNICEF |
850,836 |
|
Finnish Committee for UNICEF |
765,578 |
|
Denmark |
662,202 |
|
Netherlands Committee for UNICEF |
642,914 |
|
United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF |
628,901 |
|
Danish UNICEF Committee |
461,113 |
|
German Committee for UNICEF |
351,959 |
Global Humanitarian Funding Allocations, 2021
Destination |
Total US$ |
Haiti |
1,500,000 |
South Sudan | 1,250,000 |
State of Palestine | 1,225,024 |
Afghanistan |
1,150,000 |
Mozambique |
1,146,857 |
Bangladesh |
1,050,000 |
Yemen |
1,000,000 |
Burkina Faso |
900,000 |
Latin America and the Caribbean |
850,000 |
Democratic Republic of the Congo |
800,000 |
Iraq |
800,000 |
Pakistan |
750,000 |
Central African Republic |
700,000 |
Ethiopia |
700,000 |
West and Central Africa Region |
580,000 |
East Asia and Pacific Region |
550,000 |
Europe and Central Asia Region |
550,000 |
Myanmar |
500,000 |
South Asia Region |
500,000 |
Venezuela |
500,000 |
Syrian Arab Republic |
500,000 |
Cameroon |
400,000 |
Libya |
400,000 |
Tanzania, United Republic of |
345,269 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
300,000 |
Burundi |
300,000 |
Guatemala |
300,000 |
Niger |
300,000 |
Iran |
250,000 |
East and Southern Africa Region |
200,000 |
Eritrea |
200,000 |
Middle East and North Africa Region |
200,000 |
Pacific Island Countries |
200,000 |
Timor-Leste |
200,000 |
Cuba |
150,000 |
Colombia |
150,000 |
El Salvador |
150,000 |
Honduras |
150,000 |
Croatia |
100,000 |
Kyrgyzstan |
100,000 |
Mexico |
100,000 |
Ukraine |
80,000 |
Total |
22,077,150 |
*Above figures exclude allocations to HQ.