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UN emergency fund releases $5 million to ramp up humanitarian response in Colombia

Pays
Colombie
Sources
UNCT Colombia
Date de publication

United Nations Humanitarian Chief Mark Lowcock, announced the allocation of US$5 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to provide life-saving assistance to vulnerable communities in Colombia.

The funds will help to respond to priority humanitarian needs emerging from the impact of COVID-19, ongoing violence and protection challenges identified in the departments of Chocó, Nariño and Amazonas. Mass displacements and confinement throughout the year have affected thousands of people in Nariño and Chocó, the latter being also one of the departments most affected by recent tropical storms. In the Amazonas department, the severe impact of the pandemic surpassed the capacity of the health system and affected markets and local economies, significantly increasing food security levels and decreasing the livelihoods of the majority of 79,000 citizen of the remote department.

The funding comes from CERF’s Underfunded Emergency (UFE) window and will focus on the most critical life-saving needs including support to children, women and girls and people living with disabilities. Given the disproportionate humanitarian impact on ethnic groups and indigenous peoples in the country, efforts will also target these specific communities.

´Colombia – as the rest of the world- continues to grapple with the multiple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has strained the ability of the most marginalized to cope, leaving millions facing food insecurity and protection challenges. The United Nations remains committed to supporting the Government in its efforts to meet the needs of those most affected´, said Jessica Faieta, Resident Coordinator ad interim.

The activities, which are expected to start in the coming weeks and last for 9 to 12 months, will prioritize the provision and strengthening of life-saving health services, including sexual and reproductive health services; protection activities focusing on the needs of displaced and confined populations, including the prevention of child recruitment; gender-sensitive and life-saving response for women affected by gender-based violence; provision of life-saving food assistance and activities to restore livelihoods and food security; as well as activities providing access to water, sanitation, solid waste management and education.

´We welcome this new CERF allocation, which will allow us to kickstart and ramp up humanitarian response efforts in support of those most in need in the affected areas. So far this year, the humanitarian community has provided assistance to more than 1.2 million people across the country. For many of these vulnerable people, our support makes a difference in their capacity to cope with the multiple challenges they are facing´, said Jozef Merkx, Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim.

The United Nations System and the Humanitarian Country Team will work with the Government of Colombia to complement their efforts to deliver a targeted and effective humanitarian response to the most vulnerable.