In December 2009, the Deputy Secretary-General launched the Rapid Impact and Vulnerability Analysis Fund (RIVAF) as part of the Global Pulse initiative. The RIVAF grant-making mechanism will support innovative, real-time data collection and analysis to help develop a better understanding of how vulnerable populations cope with the impacts of global crises.

The first phase of RIVAF disbursement was targeted at UN agencies. It was generously funded by the UK's Department for International Development (DfID). Fifteen applications were received by mid-January 2010. Proposals were assessed against the following set of criteria:

• Use of a well defined analytical framework,

• A robust methodology, specifying a clear hypothesis and questions,

• Target groups living below or just above the poverty line,

• Inclusion of groups or regions falling outside current monitoring efforts,

• Focus on understanding coping strategies,

• Potential link between impact at household and community level and macro-economic situation,

• Complementarities with other RIVAF proposals and other crisis monitoring efforts,

• Implemented in partnership with another UN agency,

• Value added to existing monitoring systems,

• Potential for long-term contribution to Global Pulse.

The following nine research projects were selected:

• UNDP/UNICEF: "Monitoring households' coping strategies during complex crisis" 

• UNESCO: "Reviewing the impact of the crisis on education in selected developing countries" 

• UNESCWA (Centre for Women): "Impact of the global financial crisis on single females working in Qualified Industrial Zones in Jordan and Egypt"  

• UNFPA: "Ethiopia, Ghana, Colombia and Jordan case studies" 

• UNICEF/WFP: "Study of the impact of the global economic and financial crisis on vulnerable people in three countries" 

• UNODC: "Monitoring the impact of the global financial crisis on crime"

• UNODC: "Assessment of the potential impact of the economic crisis on decisions to undertake unsafe international migration by vulnerable population groups"

• UNOOSA/UNECA/UNEP: "A visual analytics approach to understanding poverty assessment through disaster impacts in Africa"

• UNWTO/ILO: "Economic crisis, tourism decline and its impact on the poor: an analysis of the effects of the global economic crisis on the employment of poor and vulnerable groups in the tourism sector"