UN URGES MORE FUNDS FOR NGOs 21/7/09

source: Irin

Martedi' 21 Luglio 2009
UN urges more funds for NGOs
July 21 - The UN is urging increased donor funding for humanitarian projects proposed by international and local NGOs in the Afghanistan Humanitarian Action Plan (HAP) 2009. The HAP received 68 percent of its requirement by 25 June, with the food cluster almost fully-funded, but health and agriculture were "severely under-funded", according to a mid-year review.
UN agencies and NGOs, which prepared the review, re-prioritised some projects for urgent consideration by the donor community with a special emphasis on NGO projects, as many are still severely under-funded.
"Due to the severe under-funding of many planned projects, humanitarian organizations have not been able to fully address the effects of the previous two years of drought, which have affected the lives of 70 percent of the population in remote rural areas," according to the review.
UN agencies and NGOs have proposed 146 humanitarian projects - covering emergency food aid, education, water and sanitation, shelter and healthcare - for funding and implementation in Afghanistan in 2009.
As the review shows, NGOs have been squeezed out of funding appeals in HAP.
Out of US$452 million donated to HAP, only $4.1 million was allotted to NGOs, said Laurent Sailard, director of ACBAR - an umbrella entity of 100 national and international NGOs in the country.
"NGOs are critical actors in Afghanistan," said Sailard, adding that a lack of funding was delaying important humanitarian projects.
"I would like to see more funds go to the NGOs and to the less-funded clusters in the HAP," said Robert Witkins, UN Resident Coordinator and deputy to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan.
The HAP, which outlines the humanitarian community's plans for 2009, was launched on 3 February in Geneva, with an initial request for nearly $604 million from 39 NGOs and eight UN agencies. With the mid-year review, HAP's requirements have been increased to about $666 million.
Intensifying violence has impeded humanitarian access to large areas across the country and killed, displaced and affected an increasing number of civilians. "The work is enormous and the challenges are complex," said Witkins.