UN humanitarian wing appeals for $62 million to boost capacity for crises

The United Nations humanitarian arm today launched a $62.5 million appeal to boost the capacity of the world body and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to respond to emergencies and crises, from the rapid deployment of expert staff to ensuring there are adequate stockpiles of goods available at short notice.

Launching the appeal in Geneva, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes said the appeal is designed to make emergency response efforts more predictable, effective and accountable.

“The aim is to reinforce our support to governments in providing relief and protection to people affected by emergencies,” he said. “The budget we are seeking represents a tiny proportion of the $3.9 billion we sought through humanitarian appeals for field operations around the world in 2007, but should improve the speed and quality of response in current and future crises.”

The inter-agency appeal seeks funds for 11 different sectors: agriculture; camp coordination and management; early recovery; education; shelter; telecommunications; health; logistics; nutrition; protection; and water, sanitation and hygiene.

The funds raised from Member States will be used to not only build rosters of expert staff for rapid deployment and ensure there are adequate stockpiles of emergency goods, but to develop common standards, systems and tools for responding to international emergencies.

Aside from the UN family of agencies and programmes, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and other NGOs are also taking part in the capacity-building exercise.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 10 countries responded generously to last year’s first capacity-building appeal, which raised $38 million. This year’s appeal will be the last of its kind, OCHA added in a news release.