ReliefWeb

The Interagency Consolidated Appeal for Sierra Leone in 2002 originally appealed for a total US$ 88,624,925 and was revised during the course of the year to US$ 70,956,633. While this figure indicates a decrease in requirements, in fact a major requirement of US$ 29,790,268 for food aid was later tracked under the WFP regional operation in the West Africa Appeal. So in reality the total amount requested for operations in Sierra Leone is US$ 100,746,901 for non-food and food items. The increase in the total requirements is due to the supplementary appeals launched by UNHCR to address the needs of an additional influx of 37,000 Liberian Refugees.

The Response

Reported contributions to the Sierra Leone CAP 2002, indicate a total of US$ 31,111,514 (44%) for non-food items and US$ 29,790,901 for food aid (100%), bringing the grand total to US$ 65,154,005 or 65% of resources committed. Though this is a slight increase from the US$ 61,416,599 committed in 2001, there has been a 15% drop in the percentage of requirements met through the CAP compared to 80% in 2001.

The decline in the percentage of requirements met is largely due to shortfalls in response to the increased needs for Liberian refugees that had major repercussions on the overall humanitarian situation. UNHCR and its implementing partners had difficulty meeting minimum standards of services in the camps and relocating refugees from border areas. Resources were diverted from the repatriation programmes and reintegration efforts. The humanitarian community at large was and remains greatly concerned about the condition of the Liberian refugees and the potential for tensions with host communities due to resource constraints.

Though the response to the CAP was relatively good, trends in inconsistencies in the level of resources committed to sectors and agencies continued. This ranges from 100% of requirements met for sectors such as food aid and 0% for security. Responses to individual agencies ranged from over 100% for OCHCR to 0% for ILO, UNFPA and UNDP. Agencies jointly appealing for funds to implement a common project also received inconsistent levels of resources. This undermined the overall effectiveness of these projects due to the inability of under funded agencies to play their role as per the division of labour. This was especially evident in the referral system within the health sector.

The impact

A review of achievements made towards Strategic goals was undertaken during the formulation of the Interagency Appeal for Relief & Recovery in Sierra Leone 2003 and can be found on pages 7-8. However in this report we concentrate on the financial contributions made by sector, the degree to which the projects were implemented and the impact of or lack thereof, of the levels of funding.

Outside the CAP framework

According to records compiled from agencies that have reported to reliefweb, some US$ 53 Million of humanitarian aid has been channeled through International NGOs in 2002. This also indicates a slight decrease from the US$ 59 million reported to reliefweb in 2001. Other resources have also been committed bilaterally.

CURRENT PRIORITIES FOR 2003

For 2003, the UN Country Team has launched the Interagency Appeal for Relief and Recovery for Sierra Leone 2003 to tackle both the ongoing emergency humanitarian needs, as well as the support for repatriation, reintegration and recovery needs, requiring a total of US$ 82.9 Million. To date minimal contributions have been made to this appeal.

The UN Country team has collectively identified the following as the main areas of priority that require urgent and immediate attention due to the current situation and the imminent rainy season when the following interventions can not be implemented.

Shelter: With over 460,000 resettling IDPs and refugees returning to their areas of origin, there is an acute need for the reconstruction of housing. Construction can only be carried out during the dry season. The government and humanitarian partners have also identified the need for the construction of houses for health workers, teachers and key district officials to facilitate their return to the provinces. Without such interventions, little progress can be made to improve basic social services and effective decentralisation of government administration.

Water and Sanitation: wat/san remains a grave need and concern around the country. Available data indicates that an average of 6.6% of the population in a given chiefdom has access to clean water and 0.7 % has access to latrines. The water and sanitation situation in Liberian refugees camps is also of concern. It is to be noted that construction of wells and latrines must be undertaken during the dry season and therefore funds should be committed as soon as possible.

Food: Food security is still critical to the peace process. As of mid March, the WFP PRRO was less than twenty percent resourced and effective August, WFP is facing a very serious break in the food pipeline unless new and urgent donations are received.

Refugees: As the political and security circumstances in Liberia and other countries in the sub-region continue to be uncertain, contingency planning and preparedness activities continue in order to be ready to meet the needs of new influxes of people across the borders into Sierra Leone. Current camp capacities will support some 7,000 additional people but any further arrivals will require the construction of new camps and infrastructure.

Agriculture: Overall commitment of resources to the agriculture sector within and outside CAP have been minimal. It is to be noted that agriculture is considered to be a high priority for the immediate future of the Sierra Leone economy. In order for interventions to be effective, procurement and distribution of seeds and tools should be carried out by April, otherwise germination and yield rates will be low.

THANK YOU

The UN Country team in Sierra Leone would like to thank all donor organisations and governments for the continuous and generous support to the people of Sierra Leone through the Consolidated Appeals Process.

For further information please see www.reliefweb.int or http://ochadata.un.org/SLIS or write to hic@sierratel.sl

N.B. All contributions are expressed in US$

N.B. The financial figures indicated in this report are based on information obtained from country offices in Sierra Leone. Some of the figures differ from those indicated on the reliefweb Financial Tracking Services.

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