A/HRC/31/23 availability of funds. Depending on the resources available, the Fund may also finance projects to organize training programmes, seminars or conferences to allow health-care professionals or other service providers to exchange best practices. Grant requests for projects involving investigation, research, studies, publications or other similar activities are not admissible. 5. Outside of the regular grants cycle, the Fund can also provide emergency assistance to project proposals submitted through the emergency intersessional procedure, outlined in the guidelines for 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 due to a humanitarian crisis, including armed conflict, wars and natural disasters, subject to availability of funds. Emergency grants may also be awarded when such crisis results in a grave situation that makes it impossible for an organization to continue to provide assistance to beneficiaries (e.g. destruction of premises or offices), for the purpose of enabling the organization to resume its activities. B. Monitoring and evaluation of grants 6. As a rule, pre-screening visits to projects are undertaken before a grant is awarded to a new project proposal. Regular monitoring visits to ongoing projects are also scheduled to assess the implementation of the projects funded. An internal guide on conducting visits to projects that have been funded or are to be funded was developed in 2013 by the secretariat of the Fund to enhance verification methodology and ensure coherence in the evaluation process. In 2015, a total of 75 projects were visited: 32 visits were conducted by the secretariat of the Fund, 33 by OHCHR field presences and 10 by members of the Board. III. Financial situation of the Fund 7. The Board holds the firm view that a more satisfactory level of contributions from donors is needed to respond to the current realities of victims of torture and their family members worldwide. The Board reiterates that contributing to the Fund is a concrete expression of the commitment of States to the elimination of torture. 8. The table below shows the contributions and pledges received in 2015 as of the time of writing. As at the forty-second session of the Board, at which grants were recommended for 2016, the Fund had available a net total of US$ 8,168,776 available for grants to be disbursed in 2016. 3