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Global Humanitarian Overview 2021

The Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) for 2021 was launched on 2 December 2020 in Geneva, with subsequent presentations on the same day in Berlin, Brussels, London and Washington D.C. The 2021 GHO requirements - $35 billion – are the highest ever. The UN and partner organizations aim to help 160 million of the 235 million most vulnerable people who face hunger, conflict, displacement, and the impacts of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic in 56 countries.

This year, the GHO is presented on a dedicated and interactive website. The full document, as well as abridged versions in Arabic, English, French and Spanish, can be downloaded here.
The full website content in Arabic, French and Spanish will be available shortly.

Global Humanitarian Overview 2020

The requirements for the Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) 2020 were $38.61 billion for 64 countries at the end of December. This is a decrease of $687 million since the last GHO Monthly Update published at the end of October.3 The change in requirements since last month is due to decreases in the requirements for Ethiopia and Lebanon, and the RRPs for Burundi, DRC, the Horn of Africa and Yemen, and South Sudan. The Honduras Flash Appeal for $69 million to assist 450,000 people was added to the GHO in mid-November following the passage of Tropical Storm Eta over Central America.

As of the end of December, funding for the plans included in the GHO had reached $17.86 billion, or 46 per cent of total requirements. This is almost $3 billion more than reported at the end of October. Notable new funding was reported for Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Iraq, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria HRP, Yemen, Lebanon FA, Syria 3RP, Venezuela RMRP and COVID Famine Prevention. Total 2020 GHO funding, including the GHRP, is more than the amount recorded for 2019 at same time last year, i.e. end December 2019 ($17.36 billion).4 The final figure is expected to grow as donors and recipients continue reporting on funding received in 2020.

Despite the high level of funding in absolute terms, humanitarian requirements grew significantly over the year, with the final requirement $8.86 billion greater than the initial 2020 requirements specified when the GHO 2020 was launched in December 2019. The percentage of needs covered in 2020 (46 per cent) is lower than at the end of 2019 (63 per cent) and in 2018 (61 per cent).5 The gap between requirements and funding ($20.75 billion) is larger than ever.

In 2020, an additional $7.8 billion has been reported for activities outside the GHO or is awaiting allocation, bringing the total reported humanitarian funding to a record $25.66 billion. This is $870 million higher than the amount reported at the end of 2019.

As of end December, the plans in the GHO, including the GHRP, aimed to provide assistance to 264.7 million of the 441.5 million people in need. Both figures increased – by 8.5 million people and 5.8 million people, respectively - over the end-October figures, mainly due to the Honduras Flash Appeal and changes in regional plans. This is almost triple the number of people in need at the end of 2020, and nearly one and a half times more than the people to receive assistance through the 2019 coordinated plans.

Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response

Prevention and response to gender-based violence (GBV) remains a key priority for humanitarian agencies. This is particularly true in the context of COVID-19 which has deepened existing vulnerabilities and inequalities, yet the gap between requirements and funding remains large.

The final 2020 requirements for gender programming/GBV prevention and response in 18 plans / countries in the GHO were $409.6 million.7 As of end December, funding against these requirements totaled $58.4 million. An additional $30.2 million for GBV has been reported for GHO countries / plans that have not specified requirements. Organizations receiving funds for GBV activities are strongly encouraged to report them directly to FTS at fts@un.org.