UN calls for continued humanitarian funding
GENEVA, 30 November 2009 (IRIN): The UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, urged donors not to squeeze funding to humanitarian emergencies while launching the annual Consolidated Appe-al Process (CAP) in Geneva on 30 November.
– It is vital that humanitarian assistance be insulated from budget pressures; it is important to make sure that people are not put under pressure from a financial crisis that was not of their making, he said, clearly concerned that the global economic crisis would leave traditional grant-makers strapped for cash.
Humanitarian funding remained strong throughout 2009, but most donor budgets were approved before the crisis hit; in 2010 aid budgets will be competing with domestic economic stimulus packages in many countries.
The UN CAP process provides a mechanism for combining humanitarian aid requests for a specific country or region to make coordination more effective. – The idea is to present a concerted and strategic action plan, Holmes said.
The 2010 appeal covers 48 million people in 25 countries; at least 380 international agencies and NGOs have submitted projects, with a combined price tag of 7,1 billion US dollar – roughly 2,6 billion less than in 2009.
On average, donors eventually provide just over half the funding requested.
The 2009 CAP initially called for 6,3 billion dollar, but a series of additional appeals linked to crises – including Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan – eventually raised the amount to 9,7 billion. A total of 6,3 billion was eventually raised, setting a new record.
By far the largest request is for Sudan and the ongoing Darfur crisis, where humanitarian projects are costed at 1,878 billion dollar, a similar amount to last years; Afghanistan is in second place with 871 million; next, the DR Congo, which hosts the largest UN peacekeeping mission, at 828 million.
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