As of 30 September 2016, UN-coordinated appeals and refugee response plans within the Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) require US$22 billion to meet the needs of 95 million humanitarian crisis-affected people in 40 countries. Together the appeals are funded at $9.4 billion, leaving a shortfall of $12.6 billion.
In September, two Flash Appeals were issued and requirements for several response plans were revised. The Afghanistan Flash Appeal was launched on 7 September, requesting $152 million to respond to the urgent needs of one million people "on the move" internally and across the border up to the end of 2016. The recent surge in displacement, mainly triggered by Afghans returning from Pakistan, has far surpassed 2016 humanitarian planning figures. On 15 September, the Libya Flash Appeal requesting $10.7 million by the end of the year was issued to provide urgent protection and life-saving assistance to 79,400 people in the Libyan city of Sirte.
Requirements for the Lake Chad Basin countries of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria were revised upwards this month. Some nine million people need humanitarian assistance in the region. In north-east Nigeria alone, around 6.3 million people are severely food insecure. Global acute malnutrition rates have reached 30-60 per cent in some areas. Country teams are scaling up operations and a review of the extent of humanitarian needs has revealed an escalation of unmet requirements for the year to $542 million.
In Iraq, less than half has been received of the $284 million required by the Mosul Flash Appeal to prepare for the humanitarian consequences of the military operation to retake Mosul. In Haiti, additional funds are urgently required to reinforce response teams in affected areas and to halt the rising spread of cholera. It is vital that the disease be contained, particularly as the hurricane season expected to begin in force in early October is likely to lead to additional humanitarian needs and financial requirements.
Since January 2016, the Central Emergency Response Fund has allocated $360 million to address urgent humanitarian needs in 43 countries – a sum exceeding total contributions so far this year of $345 million. In September, CERF disbursed $69 million to provide immediate, life-saving assistance in ten countries to 2.2 million people. A donor country recently contributed an additional $23.4 million to bridge the anticipated deficit of $50 million from the $450 million annual CERF funding target.
Meanwhile, 18 country-based pooled funds (CBPFs) have raised $473 million up to September 2016. In all, CBPFs have allocated $360 million to aid agencies this year: 18 per cent to national NGOs, 46 per cent to international NGOs, 35 per cent to UN agencies and 1 per cent to the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement. CBPFs continue as one of the most substantial and direct sources of funding for the programmes of local and national frontline responders.
