By Fernando Álvaro: Ex IMF Economist
The United Nations appealed on December 13 for USD 1.5 billion to provide life-saving assistance to millions of people in Somalia during the next year. “It is unacceptable that 4 million Somalis still need assistance, that children in Somalia have the highest rate of global malnutrition in the world, and that so many children across Somalia have died in the past year as a result of disease and malnutrition,” said Somalia Humanitarian Coordinator Mark Bowden, who also serves as the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative. “The situation would have been far worse without the generosity of donors and the rapid scale-up in response. We proved that with adequate resources we could change the situation.”
The humanitarian crisis in Somalia is the largest in the world, and 250,000 people still face starvation.
The 2012 Humanitarian Appeal for Somalia includes 350 humanitarian life-saving projects to be implemented by 148 UN agencies and national and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Early recovery principles will be applied across the entire programme to help shorten the period of emergency, and strengthen people’s ability to cope in the face of future crises. In the coming year, UNDP will continue its work in the areas of emergency income generation and infrastructure rebuilding through cash-for-work initiatives, and will support activities focused on the protection of vulnerable groups, particularly in the capital, Mogadishu, where cases of sexual and gender-based violence have been increasing.
Since the famine was declared in Somalia in July, a rapid scale-up in response has proven effective. Within three months, the number of people receiving food each month more than tripled to 2.6 million. More than 480,000 acutely malnourished children received nutrition supplements. Mass vaccination campaigns reduced cases of measles by almost 50 per cent. Three of the six areas where famine was declared had improved to pre-famine levels by November.
