Somalia: Consolidated Appeals Process Fact Sheet - Oct 2008

CAP Funding in 2008

The 2008 CAP for Somalia appealed for $660 million (revised upwards in June from $406 million) for 175 projects from 13 United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, 28 international NGOs (including Red Cross/Crescent Movement) and 21 local NGOs. As 24 September 2008, the CAP was 65% funded with $423 million. However, current funding levels vary drastically from sector to sector. Some examples include; Food Aid (92%), Shelter & Non-Food Items (52%), Protection (31%), Water & Sanitation (44%), Health (16%), Safety and Security (8%) and Education (9%).

The humanitarian situation in Somalia has deteriorated drastically during the year. The Food and Agriculture Organisation's August food security assessment indicates that the number of people in livelihood and humanitarian support has increased by 77% from 1.8 million to 3.2 million people since January 2008. This is 43% of the entire estimated population. The situation has been exacerbated by drought and high food prices, continuing insecurity, high international food and fuel prices leading to hyper-inflation.

Strategic Priorities guiding CAP activities in 2008:

- Save lives and provide assistance to 3.2 million people identified as being in a state of Humanitarian Emergency or Acute Food and Livelihood Crisis or as internally displaced, including an estimated 400,000 protracted IDPs and approximately 785,000 newly displaced;

- Improve the protection of, and respect for, the human rights and dignity of vulnerable populations - with a special focus on IDPs, women, children, victims of trafficking, and marginalized groups - through effective advocacy and the application of a rights-based approach across all sectors;

- Strengthen local capacity for delivery of basic social services and for disaster preparedness and response.

The 2008 CAP prioritises:

- Integrated responses to address chronic and multi-causal crises (e.g., malnutrition), aiming to meet immediate emergency needs and address multiple underlying causes of such crises;

- Increased advocacy to focus on improving the protection of civilians and increasing humanitarian access;

- Building operational capacity, particularly for Somali partners, both through increasing the number of partners the international community works with and ensuring that the level of technical expertise is raised.

- Achieving an appropriate balance in funding, both in terms of short-term emergency activities and longer-term response/early recovery/reconstruction and across sectors (while emergency resources have not been lacking, NGOs and UN agencies have been constrained by a dearth of funding for longer-term interventions, early recovery projects and start-up costs for new operations in Somalia);

- Bridging emergency assistance and early recovery/development through the complementarity of the CAP and the UN Transition Plan, the latter of which covers 2008-2009 and is the UN framework for planning and implementing recovery and reconstruction and for bringing Somalia out of chronic humanitarian emergency. Just over $46 million of the 2008 Somalia Appeal is for 22 projects also included in the UN Transition Plan.