Iraq News Now

As of 20 June 2019, the 22 Humanitarian Response Plans (HRP), the Syria Regional Refugee & Resilience Plan (3RP), the Venezuela Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan and 2 Flash Appeals that make up the Global Humanitarian Overview require $26.42 billion to assist 106.3 million highly vulnerable people. This is approximately $1 billion more than requirements at the mid-year point in 2018. The increase from the GHO launch in December calling for $22 billion to assist 94 million people is primarily due to the finalization of several HRPs, the launch of two Flash Appeals for Madagascar and Zimbabwe, and a revised plan for Mozambique.

A wide and geographically diverse group of donors have provided $6.12 billion, or 23% of the full sum required this year. An additional $3.02 billion of humanitarian funding has been contributed, bringing total humanitarian funding to $9.14 billion. This is significantly less than the $11 billion reported by donors and humanitarian partners reported at the same period last year.

Humanitarian organizations urgently need another $20.3 billion to cover the activities and projects outlined in these response plans. Regional refugee response plans for Burundi, DRC, Nigeria, and South Sudan, together require $2.41 billion to respond to the needs of 4.6 million people. Other plans drawn up by the UN and partners for Burkina Faso, Bangladesh (Rohingya), DPR Korea, Iran, and Pakistan call for $1.37 billion to assist 9.1 million people.

Plans funded at under 20 per cent as of mid-June 2019 are those for Cameroon, Ethiopia, Haiti, Libya, Niger, Syria Regional Response, and Ukraine. Of these, the appeals for Haiti and Ukraine were also funded under 20 per cent the previous two years. Twenty-two of the 26 plans are funded under 30 per cent, compared to 15 in mid-2018.

High-level events designed to draw funding and discuss crucial policy issues were held for Syria and the region and Yemen. These events raised $9.62 billion for 2019 ($7 billion and $2.62 billion for the Syria crisis and Yemen, respectively). An additional $2.38 billion was mobilized for Syria and the region for 2020 and beyond. In May, donors and partners organized the first thematic pledging conference in Oslo. $363 million to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence was pledged for 2019 and beyond, and meaningful political, policy and good practice commitments were made or reaffirmed.

In 2019, the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has responded to the needs of people affected by natural disasters, drought, displacement, conflict and internal strife in 32 countries.
CERF has received $302.9 million in contributions and pledges.

The Emergency Relief Coordinator has approved a total of $318.4 million through the CERF this year. This amount consists of $193.7 million through the rapid response window, including $45 million in June for immediate scale-up to stave off the risk of famine in the Horn of Africa, and a record $124.9 million through the underfunded emergencies window for response in 13 underfunded emergencies.

This year, 24 donors have contributed and pledged $435 million to 18 country-based pooled funds (CBPF). Altogether, 603 projects implemented by 400 partners have received funding, for a total of $372 million. Almost three quarters of CBPF allocations this year have been disbursed to NGOs. CBPFs are notably the largest source of directly accessible funding to national and local NGOs, with the amount disbursed in 2018 increasing to $208 million (25% of total) from $62 million in 2014. Another quarter this year has been allocated to UN agencies and a smaller portion to Red Cross/Red Crescent organizations.

The number of multi-year plans has increased from 10 to 12 this year, including: Afghanistan, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, DRC, Haiti, Nigeria, oPt, Somalia, Sudan, Syria 3RP and Ukraine. Planning strategically over a longer timeframe aims to reduce humanitarian needs and strengthen the links between humanitarian, development and other actors.