Drastic shortfall in funding1

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its Mid-Term Review for Angola this week that UN agencies in Angola had received only about 40 percent of their funding requirements for this year, seriously hampering their humanitarian efforts. It said that only three of the 29 projects submitted by UN agencies for the Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal are fully funded. The remaining projects have received between zero and 60 percent of their requirements. “In an effort to radically streamline funding requests, 14 projects are being dropped from the Mid-Term Review,” OCHA said. As a result, some of the suspended programmes may be reintroduced in the 2001 Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal “depending upon current conditions,” OCHA said. The review noted that as of June, WFP has received about 44 percent of its request for US $203,738,561. In May, WFP warned that it faced a possible breakdown in the food pipeline from the end of September unless new contributions were received. OCHA itself received 43.8 percent of the US $5,712,680 it had requested. UNICEF has realised 27 percent of the US $21,727,000 it appealed for. WHO has received 61 percent of a requested US $1,387,540, and the FAO 10.5 percent of US $10,366,000. UNDP 1.4 percent of its 4,250,642 appeal and UNFPA 9.6 percent of US $2,397,331. The FAO, OCHA said, was suspending four of its projects because of the lack of funding and UNFPA was combining three into a single programme. OCHA said that the estimated US $50 million needed by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were not included in the Mid-Term Review.