Det kan de ikke, fordi systemet er bygget sådan op, at pengene alt for ofte kommer i sidste øjeblik fra donorer, der lige har nogle midler til overs, når det brænder rigtigt på et eller andet sted i verden – det begrænser selvsagt mulighederne for at planlægge indsatserne drastisk.
DUBAI, 16 December 2014 (IRIN): The World Food Programme’s (WFP) celebrity-endorsed #ADollarALifeline campaign thrust the plight of Syrian refugees back into the global spotlight and netted more than the asked-for 64 million US dolllar (godt 380 mio. DKR) in just a matter of days.
Thanks to the generous donor response – including a single allocation of 52 million dollar from Saudi Arabia – electronic food vouchers (madkuponer) for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt that had been temporarily suspended, have been reactivated.
Mere i telegrammet http://www.u-landsnyt.dk/nyhed/09-12-14/pengene-str-mmede-ind-fn-kan-atter-give-syriske-fl
But in addition to raising cash, WFP’s campaign has served to underscore the precarious nature of humanitarian funding at a time when there are four concurrent Level Three Emergencies (the most serious kind according to the UN) in South Sudan, Central African Republic, Syria and Iraq, as well as the Ebola crisis in West Africa.
“Unfortunately this is the reality of a system that is broken”
WFP, which is currently trying to support more than 80 million people in 75 countries worldwide, is not the only over-stretched UN agency.
It has, however, hit the headlines several times in recent months due to funding shortages threatening food distributions not just for Syrian refugees: WFP staff told IRIN there had been ration cuts in Kenya and Ethiopia, and in Afghanistan school feeding and other programming has been stopped.
These cuts reveal not just the size and number of the emergencies that WFP is tackling, but according to experts show that the current funding system is not adequate.
“Unfortunately this is the reality of a system that is broken. When you have so many crises going on at once around the world, it brings to light a lot of problems in the humanitarian response architecture,” said Mark Yarnell, a senior advocate at Washington-based NGO Refugees International.
“With all the attention the Syria situation received, maybe it can force a deeper look at why the system keeps breaking down. We hope the upcoming World Humanitarian Summit can be an opportunity to address some of these challenges,” he added, referring to the global industry event due to take place in 2016.
Appealing and funding, appealing and funding…
Christina Bennett, an international aid policy analyst and research fellow at the Humanitarian Policy Group at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in London, told IRIN that while there would always be room for end-of-calendar-year appeals to attract donors with unspent money, there was a need to get away from short-term funding cycles that both hinder planning and create procurement delay (efterslæb i udbetalingerne).
“The system is an appeals-based one, where donors have pots of money that they are able to allocate on a short-term basis, so there is this kind of cycle of appealing and funding, appealing and funding,” she explained.
“It is largely a reactionary system,” she added. “If there was an ability to have more flexible and longer-term funding, you may perhaps see fewer of these last-minute urgent appeals and more of an effort to plan ahead of time.”
Aid workers in the field trying to manage the dwindling funds could not agree more.
Angelline Rudakubana is deputy country director for operations and programming for WFP in Afghanistan, where a shortfall of 26.9 million dollar (ca. 160 mio. DKR) has led to the suspension of school feeding and a reduced allocation of rations to many communities.
“For 2015 we need about 166 million dollar for all our activities, including our air operations,” she told IRIN, noting:
“We have some donations coming in and it looks like we will have enough to cover us until March, maybe even into early June, but because of late pledges and confirmations, some of the commodities we need will not be secured in time and so we will have breaks in our pipeline.”
Voluntary Funding
Læs videre på
http://www.irinnews.org/report/100945/time-for-re-think-on-humanitarian-funding
Se også telegrammet
http://www.u-landsnyt.dk/nyhed/11-12-14/det-humanit-re-kavaleri-skal-blive-bedre-n-r-det-r
