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Iraq Humanitarian Response Plan 2021 (February 2021)

Countries
Iraq
+ 1 more
Sources
OCHA
Publication date

Response Plan Overview

PEOPLE IN NEED 4.1M

ACUTE PIN 2.4M

TARGET 1.5M

REQUIREMENTS (US$) 607M

OPERATIONAL PARTNERS 166

Planned Response

The 2021 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) for Iraq identified 4.1 million people in need (PiN), of which 2.4 million people have acute humanitarian needs. While the number of people in need remained similar to the previous year, the severity of those needs increased, largely due to the impact of COVID-19 on top of an existing humanitarian crisis, leading to a 35 per cent increase in the number of people in acute need. As outlined in the HNO, the main drivers of this increase were the impact of COVID-19 and the partially related economic crisis, leading to large-scale loss of livelihoods.

Recognizing that the humanitarian response in itself will not be able to address the large-scale loss of livelihoods and income, which has deepened vulnerabilities among conflict-affected populations already in need, and considering the most effective use of humanitarian capacity and funding, clusters have prioritized 1.5 million people who will be targeted for humanitarian response in 2021. The 1.5 million people include those internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees, who are extremely vulnerable, facing a multitude of deep humanitarian and protection needs, including those who live in camps and other critical shelters, such as tents, makeshift shelters, abandoned, unfinished or damaged buildings; as well as those with critical needs related to food security, access to critical basic services or protection, and who are also economically vulnerable.

The additional one million people identified in the HNO as in acute humanitarian need, but not targeted in the 2021 Iraq Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), are those where the severity of the needs was brought on by loss of livelihoods and income, which will be better addressed through other assistance frameworks, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework and the Durable Solutions Framework. While ensuring a tightly focused humanitarian response, the humanitarian community will work closely with stabilization, durable solutions and development actors to facilitate a coordinated approach to addressing the drivers of humanitarian need and facilitating efforts to end displacement.

Implementation of the humanitarian response outlined in this HRP will require US$607.2 million to address the most critical humanitairan needs for 1.5 million people, including 221,000 IDPs in formal camps, 295,000 IDPs living in out-of-camp areas, and 966,000 returnees.

HRP Key Figures

The 2021 HNO assessed and analysed the humanitarian needs of three population groups: IDPs living in formal camps, IDPs living outside camps, and returnees. Amid ongoing camp closures and resultant population movements, the PiN figures presented in the HNO had to be adjusted when, at the end of November 2020, humanitarian organizations identified the number of people the 2021 HRP would target. The number of in-camp IDPs declined from the 257,000 people identified in the HNO to 221,000 people, with concurrent small increases in the numbers of out-ofcamp IDPs and returnees. However, these numbers continued to evolve while the HRP was being prepared and are expected to continue to change as additional camps close and people return home or are further displaced. In practice, the humanitarian operation will continuously adapt throughout 2021 to address the actual population in need on the ground.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.