UN allocates $41 million to boost aid operations in nine under-funded crises

United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes today allocated some $41 million in emergency funding to boost humanitarian operations in nine countries where people are suffering the effects of hunger, malnutrition, disease, and conflict.

The money from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) will help cover funding gaps in key humanitarian projects in Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Yemen, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Central African Republic (CAR), Djibouti, Eritrea, Republic of Congo and Nepal.

Humanitarian actors in Chad and the DRC received the largest individual portions of some $8 million apiece.

Agencies working in Yemen will receive $7 million, while the humanitarian country team in DPRK has been allocated some $5 million.

Humanitarian agencies in the CAR, Djibouti, Eritrea and the Republic of Congo will each receive $3 million in funding, while $2 million will go to help the UN Country Team in Nepal address humanitarian needs in the South Asian nation.

Countries were selected to receive grants based on an analysis of the funding levels of their aid programmes, and the severity of the humanitarian needs.

Earlier this week, Mr. Holmes, who is also Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, announced that UN agencies and their partners are facing a nearly $5 billion shortfall this year in responding to humanitarian crises spanning the globe.

He appealed to donors to persist in their efforts to ensure that “people struck by disaster or conflict receive the help they need for the rest of the year to stay alive, avoid recoverable harm, and restore dignity and basic self-sufficiency.”

Since it was established in 2006 to speed up relief operations for humanitarian emergencies and make funds available quickly after a disaster, CERF has disbursed more than $1.7 billion to help victims in more than 76 countries and territories.

The Fund is managed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and is funded by voluntary contributions from Member States, non-governmental organizations, local governments, the private sector and individuals.