CERF allocates some $400,000 for emergency telecommunication service in Colombia
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An IDP family in Colombia
[Photo: UNHCR]
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26 August 2009: CERF has allocated $400,000 to the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide common emergency telecommunication services to the humanitarian community in Colombia.
The Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) will use the funds to ensure timely, predictable, and effective inter-agency telecommunication services to support clusters and humanitarian partners and provide security enhancing services.
[last update: 16 September 2009]
CERF allocates $3.1 million to assist floods-affected populations in Colombia
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A child in a flooded river in Colombia
[Photo: UNICEF]
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8 January 2009: Colombia has been severely affected by floods and landslides caused by extreme rainfall which began in September. One of the most affected regions of Colombia is the Department of Chocó. The Department of Chocó records a total of 151,989 persons affected (approximately 60,800 children). The population is mostly made up of indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities with very high vulnerability, even before the emergency. The consequences of the flooding are compounded by the previous conditions deriving from the internal armed conflict, especially in the Department of Chocó. The communities in these areas frequently are the victims of homicides, child recruitment and occupation of their communities by illegal armed groups.
In total CERF has allocated $3.1 million to the relief agencies in Columbia. The relief agencies will be working with implementing partners that include: Action Against Hunger, Catholic Church of Quibdó and Istmina, Colombian Red Cross, Comitato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo dei Popoli, Corporación de Desarrollo y Paz de Magdalena Medio, Fundación de Desarrollo y Paz de Montes de Maria, Oxfam Great Britain and Red de Mujeres Chocoanas.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will focus on providing protection to 20,000 boys, girls, and women affected by the flooding emergency in Colombia through access to basic utilities and services (water, sanitation, hygiene, health, nutrition), and strengthening of their protective environments. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will aim to reduce food insecurity by re-establishing the short term means of food production of 1,000 highly vulnerable subsistence farming and artisanal fishing households. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) will provide emergency shelters material and technical assistance for the construction of temporary shelters destined to 1,100 affected families. The World Food Programme (WFP) will seek to improve access to food to support the re-establishment of livelihoods of extremely vulnerable isolated rural families. WFP estimates that it will reach 73,000 targeted beneficiaries. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will target 37,000 women and girls in order to prevent maternal mortality and morbidity. Additionally, UNFPA will provide dignity kits to 13,000 women and girls.
[last update: 8 January 2009]