Somalia: SHF releases US$ 12.3 million to sustain famine prevention efforts into 2018

[Deeq A.]

The Somalia Humanitarian Fund (SHF) will allocate more than $12.3 million to get the famine prevention efforts for 2018 off to a timely start.

These critical funds, part of the SHF Second 2017 Standard Allocation, will support 30 famine prevention projects in some of the worst-affected areas across Somalia.

This standard allocation round, focusing primarily on national and international nongovernmental partners (98 per cent of funds), brings SHF funding for famine prevention response in 2017 to more than $57 million. More than 37 per cent of these funds have been channeled directly through local NGOs as part of the Grand Bargain commitment from the World Humanitarian Summit to support localization of aid.

“Thanks to donors, these SHF funds will allow humanitarian partners to continue their enhanced famine prevention response from 1 January 2018.

Almost two-thirds of funds are geared towards the integrated multisectorial response – providing food, clean water and life-saving health, nutrition and sanitation and hygiene services in areas where needs are the greatest,” said Peter de Clercq, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia. “However, the amount is only a small fraction of what will be required to sustain famine prevention efforts in 2018.

Donors are urged to provide funding for the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan, which was part of the global launch on 1 December.”

Humanitarian needs are growing and increasingly severe, with an estimated 6.2 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Over one million people have been displaced in 2017, malnutrition rates are above emergency levels in some areas and major diseases such as Acute Watery Diarrhea/Cholera and measles remain a concern.

With the Deyr rainy season (October – December) having performed below average in most areas and a projected below-average Gu season from April to June 2018, the prospects for improved food production are bleak. Famine prevention efforts need to be sustained into 2018, alongside scaling up of livelihoods support to prevent populations at risk from sliding deeper into food insecurity. Early funding in 2018, including through the SHF, will be critical to enable humanitarian partners to sustain the current lifesaving efforts.

In 2017, the SHF was among the first sources of funding for the early famine prevention scale up, focusing on direct implementation and support for local and international non-governmental partners.

Throughout the year, the SHF has actively promoted integration of humanitarian response to achieve efficiencies and maximize impact of limited available resources, allocating more than $25 million for integrated interventions.

This last SHF allocation round of 2017 has been made possible by the end-of-year additional contributions from Australia, Canada, Denmark and Switzerland.

In 2017, contributions were also received from Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Norway, Ireland, Republic of Korea, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka and other non-governmental donors, doubling annual donor support to the SHF.

Source: ReliefWeb

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