A/HRC/43/25 conferences, peer-to-peer training or staff exchanges – that are aimed at increasing capacity to deliver professional care to victims. They are to be conducted primarily for the benefit of the professional staff of the applicant organization. Grant requests for projects involving investigation, research, studies, publications or other similar activities are not admissible. 6. Outside of the regular grants cycle and subject to the availability of funds, the Fund also provides emergency assistance to projects submitted through the emergency intersessional procedure of the Fund, as outlined in the guidelines of the Fund. Emergency grants may be awarded in exceptional circumstances, such as a sudden increase in the number of victims of torture to be assisted owing to a humanitarian crisis, including armed conflict, war or natural disaster. Emergency grants may also be awarded when such crises result in a grave situation that makes it impossible for an organization to continue to provide assistance to beneficiaries (for example, destruction of premises or offices), for the purpose of enabling the organization to resume its activities. B. Monitoring and evaluation of grants 7. As a rule, pre-screening visits to applicant organizations are undertaken before a grant is awarded for a new project proposal. Regular monitoring visits to ongoing projects for which the renewed support of the Fund is being sought are also conducted to assess the implementation and impact of the projects funded. An internal guide on conducting visits to projects that have been funded, or are to be funded, was developed by the secretariat of the Fund to ensure coherence in the evaluation process. In 2019, a total of 92 projects were visited for technical evaluation by the secretariat of the Fund, other OHCHR staff and field presences, and members of the Board. III. Financial situation of the Fund 8. The Board, in close coordination with the secretariat of the Fund and the Donors and External Relations Section of OHCHR, seeks to secure a more satisfactory level of contributions from donors, which is needed to respond to the current realities of victims of torture and their family members worldwide. It is estimated that a yearly income of $12 million is necessary to respond adequately to the requests for assistance received by the Fund from rehabilitation centres and other civil society actors worldwide. Over the past three years, the Fund has managed to secure an average yearly income of between $8 and $9 million. 9. The table below shows the contributions and pledges received in 2019 (up to 10 December). At the fiftieth session of the Board, at which grants were recommended for projects to be implemented in 2020, the Fund had a net total of $8,927,677 available to be awarded for activities, mainly for grants to support critical services for victims of torture and their family members, to be implemented in the course of 2020. Contributions and pledges received from 1 January to 10 December 2019 Donor Amount (United States dollars) Date of receipt Andorra 10 940 9 October 2019 Austria 32 822 11 October 2019 Canada* 66 102 21 March 2019 Canada 9 034 26 March 2019 Chile 5 000 18 October 2019 734 940 2 April 2019 Egypt 10 000 3 June 2019 France 79 909 26 February 2019 227 272 15 July 2019 Contributions Denmark Germany 3