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Somalia

Early funding "crucial" for Somalia 2010 humanitarian appeal

Nairobi, 3 December 2009: Aid agencies need US$689 million in 2010 to respond to the most serious humanitarian crisis in 18 years of civil war in Somalia.

The Humanitarian Appeal for Somalia was launched today in Nairobi by the United Nations Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden. Mr. Bowden urged an early response from donors. The 2010 appeal seeks US$689,008,615 million for 174 projects from 14 UN agencies and 57 international and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to respond to the most urgent humanitarian needs in Somalia.

Somalia continues to face increasingly acute humanitarian needs. However requirements in the 2010 Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP) are 19 percent less than the 2009 CAP. This is the result of a reassessment of the food aid requirements and a revised estimate of target populations and the scale of rations required. This reduction is also the result of improved coordination structures and rigorous project vetting.

In 2010, the CAP will focus on four strategic priorities: providing life-saving humanitarian services; protecting and increasing the social economic and environmental assets; providing vulnerable populations with a minimum package of basic services; and strengthening the protective environment for vulnerable populations particularly women and the youth.

Low funding was a concern throughout 2009 as the donor response to humanitarian needs in Somalia was characterised by delays and imbalances between sectors, especially in health, water, sanitation and hygiene. The decline in funding in 2009 will also mean that agencies will be left with little or no carry-over into 2010. Mark Bowden reiterated that, "early funding will be absolutely crucial to provide humanitarian assistance in time" and added that "without strong donor commitment from the first week of 2010 humanitarian assistance for nearly 3.6 million Somalis will be delayed and lives will be at greater risk."

As of 2 December, the Somalia 2009 CAP was 61% funded, having received $516 million out of the $849 requested. Of the $512 million, $215 million is carry-over from 2008. Funding levels vary from sector to sector: Food (75%), Logistics (64%), Nutrition (57%), Enabling Programmes, including the Humanitarian Response Fund and Coordination (45%), WASH (50%), Health (38%), Protection (37%), Education (14%), Agriculture and Livelihoods (33%), and NFI/Shelter (18%).

Somalia is facing a peak in its 18 years of humanitarian crisis. The armed conflict, generalized insecurity, extensive internal displacement and drought are the main drivers of the crisis. The year 2010 will not only mark 18 years of conflict for Somalia, but will also herald the first generation of Somali children who will come of age without ever having lived through a single year of peace. Some 3.64 million Somalis are in need of emergency assistance or livelihood support. This is nearly half of the population. Currently, 1 in 5 children under the age of five (285,000 children) are acutely malnourished, while 1 in 20 (70,000) are severely malnourished. The humanitarian crisis has also been worsened by the impact of the global recession. Remittance into Somalia declined by 25 percent due to the increase in unemployment among the Somali Diaspora in the first half of 2009.

The global Consolidated Appeal was launched on 30 November 2009 in Geneva by the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes. Some $7.1 billion total is being sought jointly by aid agencies to meet the most pressing needs of 48 million people worldwide. More http://ochaonline.un.org/humanitarianappeal/webpage.asp?Site=2010&Lang=en

For further information, please call: Carrie Howard, OCHA Somalia, +254-732 500 022 howard@un.org or Rita Maingi, +254 734 800 120 email: maingir@un.org. OCHA Somalia press releases are available at http://ochaonline.un.org/somalia

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