As of 31 October, United Nations-coordinated appeals and refugee response plans within the Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) require US$24.1 billion to meet the humanitarian needs of 105.1 million particularly vulnerable people of an estimated 145 million crisis-affected people in 39 countries. The appeals are funded at $11.8 billion, leaving a shortfall of $12.3 billion. This is $1.5 billion less than the gap reported at the end of September 2017.
The current humanitarian situation in DRC far exceeds planning scenarios for 2017, with huge additional needs in areas with limited pre-existing response capacity, most notably in the Kasai region. The overall number of people in need in DRC has increased from 7.3 million to more than 8.5 million since the beginning of the year, and there are currently 3.9 million internally displaced people in the country, as well as half a million refugees. Food insecurity is a critical concern, with 1.5 million people in IPC Phase 4. Current estimates may even understate the level of need, while HRP funding is at its lowest level in ten years.
Over 815,000 Rohingya refugees, including more than 600,000 who have arrived over the last two months, are sheltering in Bangladesh, making this the world’s fastest-growing refugee crisis. In October, partners released a $434 million response plan targeting 1.2 million people through February 2018. At a pledging conference on 23 October co-hosted by the State of Kuwait and the European Union and organized by IOM, UNHCR and OCHA, donors pledged $360 million for response to the Rohingya crisis. Partners are working to ensure that disbursements are fast-tracked.
Chad hosts over 400,000 refugees and 100,000 internally displaced people in need of immediate assistance. The country suffers from massive food insecurity, with close to 1 million people severely food-insecure during the ongoing lean season. Additional funding is urgently required to save the lives and livelihoods of 2.6 million people in Chad by providing food, basic health, and safe water and sanitation as well as strengthening the protection of displaced women and children.
As of 27 October, the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has approved $414 million in grants for 35 countries. In October, the fund allocated $64 million to 8 countries, four of which were funded through the CERF’s underfunded emergencies window. Amongst the allocations was $12 million to cover the protection, WASH and health needs of 196,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and $13 million to support the response to the hurricanes in the Caribbean. For 2017, 45 donors have contributed a total of $447.1 million to CERF, and 5 other donors have pledged an additional $8.7 million; CERF is therefore projecting an income of $456.3 million for 2017.
As of end October, 26 donors have contributed $599 million (including $16.8 million in pledges) to the 18 country-based pooled funds (CBPFs) active in 2017. The CBPFs in turn have channelled a combined $474 million to over 500 humanitarian partners, and proposals for a further $126 million are under review. The highest amounts have been allocated by the funds in Ethiopia ($79 million), Yemen ($59.4 million) and Iraq ($62.5 million). Some 47% has gone to international NGOs, 31% to UN organizations, 21% to national NGOs and 1% to Red Cross/Red Crescent organizations. Real-time information on CBPF contributions and allocations is available on http://gms.unocha.org/bi