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Somalia Common Humanitarian Fund allocates US$30 million to jump start aid operations in 2015

Countries
Somalia
Sources
OCHA
Publication date

(MOGADISHU, 22 December 2014) The Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Philippe Lazzarini, has announced today that the Somalia Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF) will allocate US$30 million to jump start the response to the most critical humanitarian needs in 2015.

Today, there are over 3 million Somalis in need of urgent humanitarian assistance with one million people estimated to be unable to meet their minimum food requirements – this is a 20 per cent increase compared to the same time last year. Of these, there are some 1.1 million displaced people who continue to live in substandard conditions in overcrowded settlements. The allocation of US$30 million from the CHF will target some of the most critical humanitarian needs in Somalia.

The CHF allocation will respond to needs identified in the 2015 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) and provide timely life-saving assistance to Somalis in humanitarian crisis and emergency. We will focus these funds using multi-sectoral and complementary interventions to the most vulnerable people in emergency and crisis, including in some areas with increased access.

Among those to be supported with these funds are acutely malnourished women and children in internally displaced people settlements in Dhusamarreeb, Doble, Doolow, Gaalkacyo, Garowe, Kismayo and Mogadishu. Other vulnerable communities in six areas with increased access will be supported with an integrated package of life-saving services in six newly accessible locations. Funds will be also used to address the needs of families with serious to alarming malnutrition rates caused by disease outbreaks, lack of access to clean water and poor sanitation facilities and will target households in Ceel Waaq, Bardheere and Baidoa districts.

To complement lifesaving interventions in the above locations, scaling up services to address protection concerns such as gender-based violence and child protection, as well as services such as shelter and education will also be supported to further improve the protective environment for vulnerable women and children.

In the seven urban displaced settlements targeted with this allocation, alarming general acute malnutrition rates of up to 18.9 per cent have been observed. These high malnutrition rates are largely a result of disease outbreaks, poor infant and young child feeding practices and lack of commensurate WASH and health services. The acute food security is also due to a spike in prices of basic commodities which has in turn impeded households’ access to food. Mortality rates in Somalia remain one of the highest in the world; one in every ten children die before seeing their first birthday and one in 18 women die in childbirth.

Despite shocking humanitarian indicators, the Somalia humanitarian appeal in 2014 remained woefully underfunded with only 41 per cent of its $933 million requirements met leading to a scale down of key humanitarian activities across the country. The CHF 2015 allocation of $30 million represents a small percentage of the overall HRP 2015 requirement of $863 million. We call for urgent and sustained support to the 2015 HRP to prevent further deterioration in the humanitarian situation.

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