Ogata laments inequities in donor support

Globally, the 2000 Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeals had drawn a disappointingly weak response from donors, with pledges received for only 55 percent of the funds requested, but the inequitable distribution of those funds pledged was an added concern, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata. Nearly 80 percent of the revised requirements for the North Caucasus were funded but, by contrast, the Burundi appeal received only 22 percent and the Republic of the Congo just 14 percent, she said on Wednesday. There was also a problem with an uneven distribution of funding across UN agencies and across sectors, Ogata said. In the DRC, for instance, “the 2000 appeal raised more funds than in previous years, but over 82 percent of the cash and in-kind contributions were for emergency feeding and food security programmes”. Primary health care, epidemic control, child protection, human rights and confidence-building sectors all received “critically low levels of funding”, Ogata said. Of 30 multi-sectoral projects presented in the DRC appeal, 10 were partially funded and 20 received no funding at all. “We are facing a problem not just with the level of contributions, but also with the unevenness of funding within operations ... we need donors to support all [UN] agencies - not just three or four - and all sectors, rather than just a few,” Ogata said.