HIGHLIGHTS OF THE KICK-OFF FOR THE OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS 2007 CONSOLIDATED APPEAL

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) held a “Programme Kick-off” of its 2007 Consolidated Appeals (CAP) for humanitarian assistance in Geneva this afternoon. Present were Margareta Wahlstrom, Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator of OCHA, Kasidis Rochanakorn, Director of OCHA Geneva, and Toni Frisch, Assistant Director-General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and Head of the Humanitarian Aid Department.

Ms. Wahlstrom said some 170 organizations had participated in the 2007 CAP: international and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Red Cross/Red Crescent system, and many UN agencies and international organizations. She recalled that donors also participated in the process of setting priorities in the field, as did the Government's of disaster-affected countries. Since the launch seven weeks ago, four new action plans had been launched: the Consolidated Appeal for Timor-Leste, which would be launched in Dili tomorrow; the Philippines Typhoon Appeal; the Sri Lankan Common Humanitarian Action Plan; and the Somalia Floods Flash Appeal. Those four new appeals raised the budget for the total Consolidated Appeal from $3.9 to to $4.1 billion. The UN country team were also preparing an action plan for Nepal, to cover humanitarian needs during the transition period, which would be launched next month.

This year, nine donors had already declared their funding intentions (Netherlands, Sweden, Luxembourg, Ireland, European Commission, Switzerland, Belgium and Greece, Finland), up from eight for the 2006 CAP at the same time last year. The total amount pledged was $1.4 billion and OCHA hoped to receive pledges for the remainder over the course of the year. Humanitarian funding had slightly improved in 2006 as compared with previous years, Ms. Wahlstrom said, both in terms of amounts and timeliness. There had also been more donors in 2006 giving money both to the Consolidated Appeal and to the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

Mr. Frisch, of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, appreciated the good-will expressed during the donor's meeting to ensure better coordination and more effective delivery of aid in the field. He also wished to highlight the need for humanitarian assistance in forgotten emergencies, and highlighted the usefulness of the CERF in addressing assistance gaps created as crises abated and humanitarian aid withdrew before development assistance had begun. Overall, Switzerland was contributing slightly more this year to the CAP, some $20 million, in addition to its direct contributions to donor organizations, such as the Red Cross.