Review of the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF)

The Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) was established by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in 1985 to provide immediate financial support to Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies, enabling them to carry out their unique role as first responders after a disaster or crisis. All allocations made by the DREF are based on needs and on requests by National Societies for support for immediate disaster response. The Fund has grown in recent years and now provides rapid and flexible funding to between 60 to 80 National Societies, to a value of up to CHF 24 million each year. Managed centrally from the IFRC secretariat’s offices in Geneva, the IFRC raises funding for the DREF on an annual basis, based on expected needs and the Fund currently supported by over 30 Red Cross Red Crescent Societies, institutional and corporate donors. Contributions to the DREF may be made as annual contributions or as reimbursements of specific allocations.

The DREF has three purposes:

• As start-up funding for the IFRC and National Societies to respond in the first hours of a large scale disaster or crisis – a “loan facility”;
• To enable National Societies to respond to small- and medium-scale disasters, crises and health emergencies for which no international appeal will be launched or when support from other actors is not foreseen – a “grant facility”;
• And to prepare for imminent disasters or crises. Both the loan and the grant facility can be used for this purpose.

Over the years, DREF has proved a flexible tool that can finance immediate action in response to sudden onset disasters or provide timely response and awareness-raising in the case of slow onset or silent disasters or crises. As such, it is a key element of the International Federation’s disaster response work.