A/HRC/28/25 may consist of medical or psychological assistance, help with social or financial reintegration through vocational training for victims, and various forms of legal assistance for victims or members of their families, including assistance in seeking redress or applying for asylum. As a general rule, projects are supported on a yearly basis for a maximum of two cycles of five consecutive years each, subject to a satisfactory evaluation of the project and availability of funds. Depending on the resources available, the Fund may 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. The Fund can also provide emergency assistance. Requests of this type are examined according to specific procedures outlined in the guidelines for the Fund. Emergency projects have to contain the same basic components as regular ones (namely, direct assistance to victims of torture and their families, non-governmental channels of assistance). B. Monitoring and evaluation of grants 6. Pre-screening visits to projects are undertaken systematically before a grant is awarded. 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, in order to enhance verification methodology and coherence. In 2014, a total of 89 projects were visited. In the period under review, 50 visits were undertaken by the secretariat of the Fund, of which six were conducted jointly with members of the Board of Trustees, one was carried out by one member of the Board of Trustees, 31 by OHCHR field presences and one by OHCHR desk officers. 7. During the period under review, the joint secretariat (responsible for the administration of this Fund, the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery and the Special Fund established by the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment) has continued to align the working methods of the three funds with a view to heightening cost-effectiveness and sharing best practices. These efforts were noted with satisfaction by the respective Boards of Trustees and by Member States. III. Financial situation of the Fund 8. The Fund continues to struggle to achieve a satisfactory level of yearly contributions that would enable it to meet all demands for assistance from all regions of the world, including those made in the context of emergency and humanitarian crises. According to the Board, the Fund would need to receive $12 million on a yearly basis to be able to respond adequately to new and emergency situations, such as those currently unfolding in the Central African Republic, Iraq, the Syrian Arab Republic and its neighbouring countries, and Ukraine. 9. The table below shows the contributions and pledges received in 2014 until the time of writing. As at the fortieth session of the Board, at which grants were recommended for 2015, the Fund had available a total net of $7,335,400 for grants to be disbursed in 2015. 3