CERF allocates US$ 1.5 million to support the expanded Humanitarian Response Fund for Iraq
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Funds will be quickly disbursed to NGOs to undertake urgent humanitarian activities
[Photo: WFP]
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31 March: A $US 1.56 million CERF grant is providing eleven non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with flexible and readily available funding to carry out humanitarian activities in Iraq. The allocation goes to the Expanded Humanitarian Response Fund (ERF) for Iraq which addresses gaps in several sectors, including food and non-food items (NFIs), safe drinking water and sanitation, as well as basic health care. The 11 projects aim to assist 13,000 affected families representing some 77,600 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other vulnerable residents.
[Last Update: 10 April 2008]
CERF allocates US$ 5 million to provide food assistance to displaced Iraqis
30 January 2008: In the past four years the number of Iraqis who have been displaced by violence and conflict both within Iraq’s borders and to neighboring countries has increased dramatically. The level of displacement rose particularly sharply following the February 2006 bombing of the Al-Askari mosque in Samara leading to one of the largest population movements in recent history. Since February 2006, 1.26 million people have been internally displaced (in addition to 1.2 million previously displaced). Internal displacement slowed in 2007 and there is some small scale return, however new displacement continues to takes place.
As of January 2008 there were an estimated 2.48 million currently displaced persons inside Iraq and approximately two million throughout countries in the Middle East.
The Iraqi government Public Distribution System (PDS), which is intended to provided monthly food rations to Iraqi’s in need at a nominal fee, has been faltering in post-war Iraq. The government’s ability to administer the PDS has declined as insecurity and local administrative failures have weakened PDS delivery. Few Iraqis are receiving their full PDS ration each month. Iraq’s displaced families are even worse off; 78% do not access the PDS regularly and many of those displaced have been unable to transfer their ration cards to their new place of residence.
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A young girl in an Iraqi IDP camp
[Photo: UN] |
A CERF grant is covering the costs of the World Food Programme’s (WFP) provision of immediate food needs for up to 750,000 people inside Iraq for the first month period of a twelve month project which includes a capacity building component with UNHCR. The stop-gap measure is providing Iraqi IDPs with a monthly food basket containing wheat flour, white beans and vegetable oil. Wheat flour can be transformed into bread by neighborhood bakeries and the ration complements food assistance provided by other humanitarian organizations.
[Last Update: 11 February 2008]