Pakistan aid effort in jeopardy due to lack of funds and UN blockage

Pakistan aid effort in jeopardy due to lack of funds and UN blockage Aid agencies face closure of projects as money fails to arrive – worst case of funding in a decade

A group of nine major international aid agencies said today that their aid effort of reaching over 1 million victims of the fighting in Swat valley of Pakistan was under threat due to a lack of funds. The agencies face a shortfall in excess of £26m ($42m).

World Vision faces an £7.5m ($12.1m) shortfall while Oxfam and Save the Children both face deficits of £4 million ($6 million) each. Oxfam will have to close its programmes to the 360,000 people it had planned to assist if money does not arrive by July. Concern Worldwide will also have to close its programme mid-July, just when the health risks will escalate due to the onset of the monsoon rains.

“This is the worst funding crisis we’ve faced in over a decade for a major humanitarian emergency. Some 2.5 million people have fled their homes. One month into this emergency, Oxfam is £4 million short and will have to turn our backs on some of the world’s most vulnerable people. In the same period after the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, we had £14m committed from the UN, governments and the public,” said Jane Cocking, Oxfam’s Humanitarian Director.

The funding crisis is not affecting the agencies alone. The UN’s $543m appeal has only received $138m so far. This is a 75 percent shortfall. Out of the 52 organisations requesting UN appeal funds, 30 have received no funds at all.

The vast majority of the funds the UN appeal has received came before the recent outpouring of people from the Swat valley, which swelled the number of displaced from 500,000 to 2.5 million people in early May, largest internal displacement of people in Pakistan’s history. Since May rich countries have contributed a mere $50m to the UN appeal, a minuscule nine percent of the total required.

The US, the world’s richest nation, is by far the greatest contributor to the fund at $68m, giving 12.5 per cent of what is required since the initial crisis began in October 2008. The sixth richest country, the UK, has given 1.6 percent of requirements, Japan, the world’s second largest economy, has given 1.4 percent, Germany, fourth richest country, has given 1.3 per cent, Canada 1.0 percent, Australia 0.8 percent, Norway 0.4 percent, Italy 0.3 percent, Netherlands 0.3 percent, Sweden 0.2 percent, France 0.02 percent.

The agencies said that besides little money going into the UN appeal, the problem was also that even less money is being dispersed to frontline agencies from the appeal. In a humanitarian crisis speed of delivery is vital. Previously governments would give part of their aid money directly to frontline agencies. Now when government do give aid money, it tends to go to the UN which then passes it on to agencies working on the ground. Though the UN system can improve coordination and reduce duplication of effort, the allocation of money to frontline agencies takes far too long. The UN funding system needs to be complimented with other diverse ways of getting aid money as swiftly as possible to those saving lives.

Five weeks into the escalation of the crisis, the UK’s Department for International Development says that it will now directly fund those front line non-governmental agencies working within the UN appeal. Welcome as this change is, it will require other donors to be equally as flexible to cover the agencies’ £26m shortfall.

“With monsoon rains due by July, serious health risks will increase as water sources become contaminated and sanitation worsens. At a time when the risks of malaria, respiratory inspection and diarrhoea start to escalate, agencies will be forced to close down our programmes.

“The only reason we haven’t faced a massive humanitarian meltdown is the generosity of families and communities of modest means who’ve looked after the vast majority of those who’ve fled the fighting. With so many mouths to feed, these communities will soon be running on empty. The world’s richest nations need to dig much deeper into their pockets to help,” said Carolyn Miller, Chief Executive of Merlin.

For further information contact:
In Pakistan, Shaheen Chughtai, + 92 (0) 300 856 9256, schughtai@oxfam.org.uk
Shumon Alam, + 92 (0) 301 856 9531, moalam@oxfam.org.uk
In UK, Ian Bray Oxfam + 44 (0) 1865 472289. + 44 7721 461339

Ends

Notes to editors:

ActionAid plans to support approx 28,000 people (4,500 families) in both camps and host communities in Swabi, Mardan and Hasan Abdal over the next 12 months. This will include the distribution of food, provision of hygiene kits and medicine, provision of health and hygiene sessions and establishment of mobile health camps. Teachers will be recruited to operate in eight schools reaching 1,500 displaced children alongside provision of school kits. Recreational and sports activities will be organised for young people. A psychosocial consultant will also be hired to train local partners and volunteers to support displaced and trauma victims. ActionAid will also lobby government to take leadership in the response and ensure better coordination at ground level. 450 families have been reached to-date with food and non-food items support. ActionAid has raised approximately 60,000 through in-country resources and individual supporters in the UK but has identified a funding gap of £300,000 to support longer-term work.

Working with local partners CARE has distributed stockpiled tents and kitchen utensils worth £100,000 and 500 displaced families, and started health camps to provide emergency medical care with £80,000 raised from trusts. CARE’s overall goal is to save lives and reduce suffering of 70,000 conflict-affected IDPs in NWFP over the next twelve months. CARE needs £3.9m to do this and are unable to carry out activities on a significant scale until we receive further funding.

Concern Worldwide is responding to the crisis to address the urgent humanitarian needs of IDPs in District Mardan in the North West Frontier Province. They are currently providing essential non-food items and hygiene kits to approximately 22,400 internally displaced persons (3,200 families) in four union councils, working with a local partner. Both Concern and its partner have the capacity to increase the scale of this response significantly; however, at this point in time funding alone is its biggest constraint. So far Concern has committed approximately £180,000 from its funds, is awaiting written confirmation from a donor of approximately £90,000, and is in the process of applying to other donors for funding that will allow them to reach at least 10,000 families or 70,000 people. Concern’s funding will run out in mid July. Without additional funding it will have to cease its operations leaving the IDPs, particularly those amongst host communities, at risk of becoming even more vulnerable to hunger, disease and death if their immediate needs are not met.

Islamic Relief Worldwide is currently working in two Union councils of Mardan district focusing on IDPs living with host communities. With the limited resources available from funding agencies coupled with the lack of media exposure, Islamic Relief Worldwide has developed a plan to support 97,968 beneficiaries for six months with an estimated cost of £ 1 Million. This support is focused in the areas of distribution of Non Food Items, Primary health care, psychosocial support to traumatised children/women and search and reunification of children and elderly who were separated from their families. The intervention is implemented through Islamic Relief Pakistan. It is clear that the needs outweigh the resources allocated and Islamic Relief Worldwide hopes that the international community will release further funds in order for it to respond quickly and in an effective manner.

Merlin is currently providing basic health services to around 220,000 displaced people in camps and host communities in Mardan, Nowshera and Peshawar districts; however funds received through the UN (from CERF and other institutional donors) have been very limited and currently will finish at the end of June. Funds received directly from institutional donors have also been very limited. If no additional funds are received soon, Merlin will not be able to sustain the level of services to the current and increasing numbers of displaced people. At present less than 40% of health needs are covered. Should service provision further decrease, this will have a disastrous impact on the health status of IDPs and host communities with high potential for widespread epidemics.

Oxfam launched a £5.5m response on 8 May, working with local partners. Oxfam is responding with essential humanitarian relief and services, particularly water and sanitation, and are currently aiming to reach 360,000 people. Oxfam is currently underwriting the response with its own funds and around £100,000 of money raised from supporters. Unless Oxfam raises additional money, it will have to close its operation in July. Oxfam is currently reaching less people than it would like to due to the limited funding, for example, Oxfam is providing safe water to just 50,000 people instead of the planned 120,000.

Save the Children plans to reach 280,000 displaced people, including 168,000 children, with urgently needed healthcare, non-food relief items and child protection work. 40,000 people have been reached so far, but to date only £2.6m of the £6.6m needed by Save the Children for its initial response has been secured. Save the Children has begun distributing food for 170,000 people and will be transferring $45 cash grants to 5,000 households each month to support essential household costs. Save the Children is especially concerned by the looming educational crisis which sees an estimated 10,000 classrooms currently occupied by IDPs, meaning that there are virtually no learning opportunities for at least 1.7 million children. Despite this, as of the beginning of this week the education cluster, of which Save the Children is global co-lead, had still received no funding.

One month on from the start of its emergency response, World Vision has only received a fraction of the $13 million it needs to reach 300,000 of the displaced people taking refuge in host communities in Buner, Swabi and Mardan districts. World Vision’s assessment of the crisis found people are in great need of improved health services, hygiene, education, water, shelter and sanitation facilities. The humanitarian agency will soon receive food and $398,000 cash from the World Food Programme, which will benefit 195,000 people in Mardan district until December. The agency has received no other funding through the UN funding mechanism. With limited private donations, the agency has been able to reach 3,500 people with health kits, mattresses and essential household items.
Embargoed to: 00.01 BST, Thursday 11 June 2009