NEW YORK, USA – The UN’s top relief official on Friday allocated $100 million from the Organization’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to bolster critically underfunded humanitarian operations in some of the world’s humanitarian hotspots.
More than a third of the funds will support aid efforts in Yemen ($20 million) and Ethiopia ($15 million), where desperate civilians are grappling with the combined impact of hunger, displacement, diseases and climate disasters.
Allocations are also included for operations in conflict and climate-affected countries, including Myanmar ($12 million), Mali ($11 million), Burkina Faso ($10 million), Haiti ($9 million), Cameroon ($7 million) and Mozambique ($7 million).
Countries responding to El Niño-induced drought and flooding, such as Burundi ($5 million) and Malawi ($4 million), will also receive additional funds, a portion of which will promote climate-smart humanitarian action.
Funding of last resort
Joyce Msuya, acting under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator highlighted the importance of additional resources.
“In far too many humanitarian emergencies, a lack of funding prevents aid agencies from reaching people who need life-saving assistance, and that is heart-wrenching,” she said.
“CERF funding is an emergency cash injection of last resort to avert the worst and save lives when other humanitarian funding is inadequate. We urgently need increased and sustained donor attention to these underfunded crises,” she added.
Msuya is also the acting head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), taking over from Martin Griffiths, who stepped down in June.
Second allocation for 2024
The funds were CERF’s second allocation for underfunded emergencies for 2024, following the release of $100 million in February for seven countries, including Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Honduras, Lebanon, Niger, Sudan and Syria.
OCHA cautioned that the combined $200 million this year for humanitarian crises is the lowest amount in the last three years, underscoring the growing gap between humanitarian needs and the donor funding CERF receives to meet them.
This year, the humanitarian community is seeking some $49 billion to reach 187 million of the most vulnerable people in crises worldwide.
To date, only 29 percent of this funding has been received – a shortfall of $35 billion.
Related: UN allocates $100 million for underfunded emergencies
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