New York/Bangui: Interim Humanitarian Coordinator Mai Moussa Abari has signed off the latest projects to benefit from the Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF).

The CHF was established in the Central African Republic (CAR) in July 2008 to provide funding that is both strategic as well being readily available for emergencies. Its first allocation last year was USD 2.3 million; this year’s first tranche has risen to USD 4.1 million.

Using participatory decision-making, funding is allocated sector by sector in an open inclusive process in which all interested agencies take part.

After years in the bush, children celebrate returning to
their home village in north-west CAR.
Louise Williams/OCHA/2009

”During allocation rounds, the highest-priority underfunded sectors receive support,” explained Jean-Sébastien Munié, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in CAR. ”This has helped compensate for unequal funding between sectors in our humanitarian appeal.”

The Central African Republic is one of the poorest countries in the world and basic health indicators remain amongst the worst in Africa. Funding from the CHF will support projects by 18 local and international non-governmental organizations and UN agencies to bring aid to areas affected by conflict, banditry and displacement.

Activities include the provision of life-saving drugs and clean drinking water and support for victims of rape. The CHF will also support essential shared services such as air access to remote areas, as well as coordination and data collection. In addition to the allocation announced today, the CHF also provides a further reserve for breaking emergencies so that aid agencies can respond at very short notice.

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The new Common Humanitarian Fund has allocated $ 2.5 million to 16 priority projects in the Central African Republic. With this funding, aid agencies will protect the lives of newly displaced people, provide health care and water to people struck by violence, ensure the survival of infants and young children and help the displaced who are returning to destroyed villages to restart their lives.

“The pooled fund will help to make humanitarian action in the country more efficient and better coordinated,” said John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. “Thanks to the fund, aid organisations on the ground can channel the money where it is most needed and respond to a breaking emergency faster than ever,” he added.

Close to $ 2.8 million has so far been pledged to the fund by Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and Sweden. Roughly a quarter of this money has been reserved for the cash-strapped humanitarian air service, which would otherwise have had to halt operations. The air service transports goods and aid workers to isolated communities which are hard to reach by car because of insecurity or poor roads. Some funds have also been given to a project to repair roads and bridges in conflict areas, so that aid can effectively be delivered to the hardest-hit people.

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