The UN currently estimates that 11.5 million people in parts of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Somalia are severely affected by the major food security crisis and in need of assistance (UNHCR, 17 July 2011). As the crisis escalates, many are concerned about whether enough humanitarian aid funding is forthcoming and who is giving what.
Tracking funding to the crisis is not straightforward however. The crisis spans parts of a number of countries, many of which have ongoing humanitarian crises that pre-date the food crisis. Separating out funding to address the food crisis from other humanitarian funding in these countries is problematic, largely because there is no unifying funding appeal for the food crisis, rather there are three existing UN appeals within the UN’s consolidated appeal (Djibouti, Kenya and Somalia) and a variety of appeals issued by UN agencies, NGOs and other humanitarian organisations.
Contributors of > US$10 million to crisis-affected countries in 2011
Source: Development Initiatives based on UN OCHA FTS, downloaded 22 July 2011. Note that government donor contributions include amounts spent via the country-level common humanitarian funds (CHF) or emergency response funds (ERF). It is important to recognise that governments might also make contributions to the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), unearmarked core funding to UN agencies and the European Commission that those agencies may deploy in these crises.