The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) launched its annual appeal for humanitarian funds, following on its Third Global Humanitarian Policy Forum, which discussed improving connections among humanitarian actors and ensuring a concerted, people-centered crisis response.
8 December 2014: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) launched its annual appeal for humanitarian funds, following on its Third Global Humanitarian Policy Forum, which discussed improving connections among humanitarian actors and ensuring a concerted, people-centered crisis response.
Valerie Amos, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, announced the call for US$16.4 billion to address humanitarian crises around the world. At a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on 8 December 2014, Amos said that Syria, South Sudan, Iraq and the Central African Republic will remain the top priorities for humanitarian workers in 2015, accounting for over 70% of humanitarian spending. She noted that humanitarian contributions in 2014 amounted to less than half of what was asked for, and called for increased efforts “to close the gap between needs and resources.”
At the Third Global Humanitarian Policy Forum, held in New York, US, on 3-4 December 2014, UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson reported that more than 100 million people remain in need of humanitarian assistance, partly as a result of climate impacts, food insecurity and water scarcity, and that over the past ten years, the amount requested through humanitarian appeals has risen nearly 600%. Eliasson highlighted the need to connect the efforts of different humanitarian actors, a practice he referred to as ‘inter-operability.’ As examples of this concept, he described working with mobile phone and Internet companies in West Africa to help stop the spread of Ebola, and working through community groups, the media and NGOs in Iraq to provide help and information to displaced people.
The concept of ‘inter-operability’ also was discussed at a high-level symposium that took place on the first day of the policy forum, with speakers including Amina Mohammed, UN Special Advisor of the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning, and other senior representatives from UN and public agencies including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). [Statement by Valerie Amos] [Statement by Jan Eliasson] [Third Global Humanitarian Policy Forum Announcement] [UN Press Release on Funding Appeal]