Needs outpacing funds, aid agencies warn

|PIC1|Aid funds are running short as the worsening humanitarian emergencies in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and parts of Africa, complicated by prevailing political instability and the global economic crisis dampening the generosity of donors.

In Sri Lanka, World Vision said it needs a staggering one million US dollars daily for the survival of 300,000 Tamil refugees languishing in temporary camps. The aid agency believes funds will run out in three months.

"It's becoming a major problem, because of most of the aid agencies that are responding have burned out most of their budgets," Suresh Bartlett, World Vision director in Sri Lanka was quoted as saying by AlertNet.

Christian Aid is funding work in camps for the displaced population in the north with around £400,000 raised from the British public. But Asia and Middle East head Robin Greenwood said the agency's local partners could use four times that amount.

As of Thursday, funds donated to the UN's $155 million appeal for Sri Lanka stood at £38 million, or 39 percent of the total, with a further £17 million in pledges that have yet to be firmed up.

In Pakistan, an estimated 2.3 million people in the north have fled their homes due to the government offensive against Taliban militants. Aid agencies need around £338 million to provide food, water, shelter and other relief to displaced people sheltering in camps and with host communities.

So far, the appeal is only 16 per cent covered. Donors have promised a further £140 million but it remains unclear how and when this money will be allocated.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) says it has received about a third of the funds its needs to provide food aid to around 1.5 million people in Pakistan, but desperately requires more.

Political and economic constraints

During major humanitarian crises, 13 British charities often raise money jointly under an umbrella organisation called the Disasters Emergencies Committee (DEC), with appeals shown on all the major television networks; it has not agreed to launch appeals for Sri Lanka or Pakistan.

The DEC is in a tight spot, similar to earlier this year when the BBC and Sky declined to cooperate on its last appeal for the Gaza conflict, fearing their involvement would compromise their political neutrality as news organisations.

In Sri Lanka, the way in which the war was fought generated controversy and violations of human rights.

This year's spike in humanitarian need has come at a time when government and household coffers in rich countries are being stretched by the fallout from the credit crunch.

WFP has revised its 2009 budget from £3.2 billion to £4 billion, aiming to provide food aid to 105 million people in 74 countries. So far it has received just 18 percent, compared with a quarter of its needs at the same time a year ago.

This shortfall is translating into tough choices on the ground. WFP has already stopped distributing food aid to 600,000 people uprooted by conflict in northern Uganda, and may have to cut rations for 3.5 million hungry people in Kenya and nearly 10 million in Ethiopia.

The world's twin food and financial crises, combined with the rapid escalation of complex political emergencies like Sri Lanka and Pakistan, have cast doubt on the effectiveness of the existing ad-hoc funding system in which donors respond retrospectively to aid requests.

"In a period where the developed world and donor governments are making very clear that food security is an important part of their foreign policy ... to have the work of reaching the hungry funded completely on a voluntary basis, does that really make sense?" asked WFP's Roman.