What are the most and least funded humanitarian appeals of 2023?
UNOCHA's midyear report says that $54.8 billion is now needed to cover the world’s crises. We looked into the data to see which crises are the most underfunded and which countries require the most support.
By Alecsondra Kieren Si // 11 July 2023Late last month, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published a report on the level of funding for humanitarian crises. It showed that $54.8 billion is now needed to fully fund the humanitarian response — the highest level ever, and around $8.4 billion more than last year’s midpoint. At the halfway point of the year, only $10.7 billion — around 20% of what is needed — had been allocated to the response, according to UNOCHA’s report. This is the highest ever figure at the half-year point. However, the gap between the funding needed and the amount available was also larger than it has ever been, at $43 billion. According to OCHA, the increased need correlates with flash appeals to respond to the earthquake in Syria and Turkey, and a refugee response plan to address the fallout of the Sudan war. There are 362 million people who are currently in need — a 16.8% increase from the 306 million people described as in need at the same point last year. OCHA establishes a response plan to address problems in any area of the world where there is a substantial humanitarian need. There are currently 43 interagency response plans; 26 of these are humanitarian appeals, five are flash appeals, and nine are regional response plans. Of these plans, 25 are currently funded below the average of 20% — which remains the same from 2021 and 2022. OCHA publishes up-to-date figures on its Financial Tracking Service platform. The report was published last month, slightly before the midpoint of the year; Devex acquired figures from the platform at the half-year point to make our own calculations. The big 5 Five countries accounted for more than half of all the funding requirements — Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen. Afghanistan requires $3.8 billion, with $503.8 million committed. This is 19.6% of what is required, $950 million less funding than at this point last year. Ethiopia requires almost $4 billion, with $966.4 million committed. This is 24% of what is required. Last year, the Ethiopian appeal had just been launched at the half-year point, with no committed funding. Syria requires $11.2 billion, including $5.4 billion from a country plan and $5.4 billion from a regional response plan. So far, $1.2 billion has been committed, 10.9% of what is required. A further $397 million is required specifically to deal with the Syrian earthquake, which has been fully funded. Ukraine requires $5.6 billion and has received $1.1 billion. It has seen a sharp decrease in funding in percentage terms from the same point last year: 70% of their appeal was funded then, now falling to just 26%. Ukraine’s funding requirement increased from $4.1 billion at the same point last year. Yemen requires $4.4 billion, including a regional plan, and has $1.3 billion. This is a slight increase in funding in percentage terms, with 28% funded at the same point last year to 29% this year. Underfunded crises In dollar terms, the most underfunded crisis is the Regional Migrant Response Plan for the Horn of Africa and Yemen, with only $15.5 million allocated to it out of the required $60.4 million — 25.7% of the coverage. This is followed by the El Salvador Humanitarian Response plan with almost $20 million out of the $98.4 million required funding. Then the Mozambique Cholera, Cyclone, and Floods Plan, with only $21.4 million funded out of the $138 million required. In percentage terms, the most underfunded crisis is the Syrian Arab Republic Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan, or 3RP, the second biggest response plan, where only 3.6% of the funding has been covered or $191.4 million out of the $5.4 billion required. This is then followed by the Ukraine Situation Regional Refugee Response Plan, with only 4% of the funding needed covered or $67.6 million out of the $1.7 billion needed. Then the Afghanistan Situation Regional Refugee Response Plan follows with 4.9% — or $30.6 million covered out of the required $613 million. The most funded crisis in dollar terms is the Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan, with $1.3 billion funded out of the required $4.3 billion. The Syria earthquake flash appeal received a 100.2% coverage with $398.3 million funded out of the $397.6 million required. Largest donors The United States provided the most funding for this half of the year, with $5.3 billion, or 47.5% of the total. This was followed by the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department, or DG-ECHO, with $1.2 billion, Germany with $675.2 million, Japan with $516.3 million, and the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund, with almost $370 million. Sectors In dollar terms, the most funded sector is the food security sector, with $3.6 billion allocated to it out of the required $18.4 billion, which is also the highest requirement among all the sectors. This is followed by ‘not specified’ sectors with $1.2 billion, then Emergency Shelter and NFI, with $731.4 million out of the required $3.7 billion. In terms of coverage, the most covered sector is the coordination and support services, with 33.6% covered or $185.7 million of the required $553.4 million. This is followed by multisector funding with 33.1% covered or $631.6 million reached out of the required $1.9 billion. The least funded sector is protection — human trafficking & smuggling, with only less than $1 million allocated to it. This is also the lowest-funded sector in terms of percentage, with only 3% of the total funded out of the required $31.1 million. Recipient organizations The top four most funded organizations fall under the U.N. system. They are: • World Food Programme — $3.2 billion. • UNICEF — $1.3 billion. • U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees — $1.2 billion. • International Organization for Migration — $460.1 million. This is then followed by INGOs who prefer to keep their funding confidential, which received $538 million. As for non U.N.-related organizations that received the most funding so far, the top spot goes to Catholic Relief Services, with $374.5 million, followed by Save the Children, with $218.9 million; then, the Norwegian Refugee Council, with $175.5 million; the Danish Refugee Council, with $116.5 million, and the Syria Cross-border humanitarian fund, with $95.9 million.
Late last month, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published a report on the level of funding for humanitarian crises. It showed that $54.8 billion is now needed to fully fund the humanitarian response — the highest level ever, and around $8.4 billion more than last year’s midpoint.
At the halfway point of the year, only $10.7 billion — around 20% of what is needed — had been allocated to the response, according to UNOCHA’s report.
This is the highest ever figure at the half-year point. However, the gap between the funding needed and the amount available was also larger than it has ever been, at $43 billion.
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Alecsondra Si is a Junior Development Analyst at Devex. She analyzes funding data from bilateral and multilateral agencies, foundations, and other public and private donors to produce content for Devex Pro and Pro Funding readers. She has a bachelor’s degree in International Studies - major in European Studies from De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines.