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Who we are

AFNS brings together Syrian and International partners with a collective mission to maintain life-saving humanitarian assistance to Syria.

Who we are

AFNS is a Humanitarian multi-donor Pooled Fund established in October 2022 to meet priority needs in the north of Syria with a primary focus on the northwest of the country, where 4.1 million people are in urgent need of assistance in 2022.

The Fund

The Fund works with aid actors including communities, civil society organisations, the cluster coordination mechanism, and the United Nations to understand where needs and opportunities are greatest and where it can add most value.

Under the leadership of the Fund’s Steering Board and its independent Chair, the aim of the Fund is to provide complementary, predictable, timely, and consistent resources to partners thereby expanding the delivery of humanitarian assistance to support life-saving and early recovery activities, focusing on the most urgent needs and filling critical gaps left by other response instruments.

Our Principles

Best practice

We strive to ensure the activities we fund meet current standards of best practice, including the Core Humanitarian Standards and Sphere Standards.

Committed

We follow international humanitarian and human rights law and align with relevant international frameworks, including the Grand Bargain and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Demand-driven

We finance activities that directly address humanitarian needs and considering the capacity and agency of affected populations.

Flexible

We are focused on providing flexible humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people with unearmarked funding from a diversity of donor countries.

Localisation

We promote locally driven mechanisms to identify, define and address humanitarian needs and capacity constraints.

People-centred

We ensure we are accountable to affected populations, committed to the prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, and strive for gender equality and social inclusion in everything we do.

Preventing diversion

We are committed to ensuring funds are used solely to deliver humanitarian assistance to Syrians and determined to prevent the diversion of funds for any illegal purpose, including financing terrorism or breaching sanctions.

Responsible

We are inclusive and transparent, coordinating and collaborating with others tackling the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

Key People

The key individuals involved in the oversight and management of AFNS are detailed below, along with the key responsibilities for their role.

Wolfgang Gressmann

Independent Chair of the Steering Board

The Independent Chair of the Steering Board is the public representative and facilitator of the Steering Board. The Chair acts without prejudice and is a non-voting member the Board. The Chair works collaboratively and strategically with the Steering Board and the Fund Management Agent to maintain high standards of governance, and to ensure the AFNS adheres to its humanitarian mission, principles and objectives.

Silvia Andena

Executive Director

Leading the Fund Management Agent team responsible for administering the Fund in accordance with AFNS's policy and procedural framework. Working with the Steering Board to develop and deliver strategies and plans to deliver on the mission, objectives and principles of the Fund as laid out in its Charter.

Keir Prince

Fund Management

Developing the framework of policies and procedures for the financial, operational and risk management of the Fund. Designing and maintaining the Fund's governance framework, subject to approval by the Steering Board.