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Tag: Mark Lowcock

  • UN Relief Chief warns aid money could run out in 6 weeks

    Aid agencies are running out of money to fund humanitarian efforts in Yemen and are expected to use up their resources by the end of March, the United Nation’s Relief Chief said on Tuesday.

    The UN estimates that delivering all the life-saving and protection programmes will cost more than 4 billion dollars.

    UN Relief Chief, Mark Lowcock, told the UN Security Council that funding was quickly becoming the biggest challenge facing the aid operation, the biggest humanitarian relief operation in the world.

    Yemen’s currency has been losing value again, as the effects of an injection of foreign exchange from Saudi Arabia in late 2018 wear off.

    The price of food is rising as a result, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis, Lowcock said.

    The operational challenges in getting aid to those who need it are “daunting,’’ but manageable, unlike funding-related challenges, Lowcock said.

    “Without adequate resources, the aid operation will grind to a halt at a time when more people need more help than ever,’’ Lowcock said.

    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will convene a pledging conference in Geneva on Feb. 26.

    Yemen, one of the Arab world’s poorest countries, has been in the grips of a devastating power struggle between the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-linked rebels since late 2014.

    Some 10 million people are one step away from famine and starvation, according to the UN.

    The conflict has led to displacement, food insecurity and outbreaks of cholera and diphtheria across the country, as well as damage to the healthcare and education infrastructure. (dpa/NAN)

  • UNDP donates school to Borno resettled community

     The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has inaugurated a primary school at Ngwom resettled community in Mara Local Government Area of Borno.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the project was inaugurated by the UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock on Sunday at Ngwom community.

    The school was designed with 12 classrooms,  six offices, store and toilets.

    Steiner said the project was part of comprehensive programme designed to facilitate stabilisation, livelihoods support and recovery of conflict affected communities in the northeast.

    Read also: UNDP to support Niger communities in tree planting

    He said they were in the state to appraise the humanitarian situation, meet the communities with a view to promote stronger partnership to address the dire humanitarian needs in the region.

    NAN reports that the UN agency also disbursed N900,000 to Ngwom community under its Village Savings and Loan Associations, to facilitate execution of community development projects.

    According to statistics by the agency, some 300 houses, 288 market stalls, clinic, police post and water points were reconstructed at Ngwom under its Integrated community Stabilization programme.

    The UN agency also distributed farm inputs to 625 resettled households to enable them cultivate their farmlands during the 2017 and 2018 cropping season.

    Similarly, 120 households received support for irrigation activities; 120 for livestock production, while 128 households got small businesses support and 390 displaced persons to benefit from the Community-Based Safety Nets.

    Other services rendered by the agency include distribution of 340 lanterns to households and volunteers while 400 households encouraged to plant economic and non-economic trees.

  • Two senior UN officials in Somalia to help tackle food insecurity

    Two senior UN officials in Somalia to help tackle food insecurity

    Two senior UN officials arrived in Mogadishu on Tuesday to underline the immense challenge of persistent food insecurity and the new approach to addressing it.

    Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock and UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Achim Steiner will also meet with senior government officials, humanitarian and development partners.

    “The UN principals will highlight the need to continue life-saving humanitarian assistance as an urgent priority,

    while simultaneously addressing the root causes of Somalia’s recurring humanitarian crises and encouraging investment in the untapped potential of the country,” the UNDP said in a statement on Tuesday.

    Read Also: 13,000 UN  employees in Gaza protest amid Trump funding freeze

    The Horn of Africa nation averted a famine in 2017 when the government and partners heeded early warning reports and ramped up the response.

    “The drought and ongoing conflict, coupled with the resultant displacement of a million people last year, has left six million people in need of humanitarian assistance,” said the UNDP.

    The UN agency said recurrent drought and subsequent famine risk have become a devastating and unsustainable cycle in Somalia, noting that 4.5 billion dollars have been spent on emergency responses to save lives in the years since the 2011 famine.

    NAN

  • UN solicits $22.5bn humanitarian aid for 2018

    UN solicits $22.5bn humanitarian aid for 2018

    The United Nations has appealed for a record $22.5billion (£17billion) in humanitarian aid for 2018.

    The global aid appeal aims to raise funds to help 91 million of the world’s most vulnerable people, out of 136 million in need, a UN statement said.

    More than $10billion is needed to address the humanitarian crises in Syria and Yemen alone, it added.

    The UN also said needs are rising substantially in several African countries.

    Driven by conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, the number of people in need of humanitarian aid has increased by more than 5 per cent, according to UN co-ordinator, Mark Lowcock.

    The BBC reports that the targeted fund is a 1 per cent increase on the amount requested last year.

    By the end of November, the agency had raised nearly $13billion – which the UN said is record levels of funding.

    More than a third of the fund requested is to address the needs created by the devastating civil war in Syria, $3.5billion to provide humanitarian aid inside the war-ravaged country and $4.2billion to help the 5.4m registered Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries.

    In Yemen, which is facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, the UN said $2.5billion is needed to assist those most desperately in need.

     

  • UN appeals for $434m in Rohingya aid conference

    UN appeals for $434m in Rohingya aid conference

    The UN gathered donor countries in Geneva on Monday to shore up 434 million dollars in aid for the world’s fastest-growing refugee crisis that has been unfolding between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

    Bangladesh, one of Asia’s poorest countries, has taken in some 580,000 minority Rohingyas who have fled alleged atrocities in Myanmar’s Rakhine state since August.

    The sum is calculated to fund UN operations until the end of February in Bangladesh, which has kept its borders open, despite being one of Asia’s poorest countries.

    UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi said: “It’s a pretty grim situation.

    “The needs are massive.”

    Refuges in and around the Bangladeshi fishing town of Cox’s Bazar have faced food and water shortages, lack of shelters and inadequate sanitation facilities, raising the risk of disease outbreaks.

    Nearly six out of 10 refugees are children, many of them arriving malnourished.

    The Rohingyas are a marginalised Muslim group in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

    They have been struggling with poverty and discrimination, including the denial of citizenship rights.

    In August, Myanmar security forces launched an operation against attacks by Rohingya militants in Rakhine.

    UN human rights investigators have concluded that the burning of villages, persecution of community leaders as well as killings and rapes amount to a systematic effort to drive the Rohingyas out.

    Beyond appealing for funds, UN leaders urged the international community to get involved to stop the violence and discrimination.

    “This is not an isolated crisis,” UN emergency aid chief Mark Lowcock said, pointing to decades of “persecution, violation and displacement.

    NAN

  • Lake Chad Basin: OCHA Chief to Visit Nigeria, Niger

    Lake Chad Basin: OCHA Chief to Visit Nigeria, Niger

    • To travel to Niger and Nigeria from 9 to 12 September 2017

    United Nations Humanitarian Coordination Agency(OCHA) head, Mark Lowcock, is expected to vist Niger and Nigeria from 9 to 12 September 2017. raise the global profile of the Lake Chad Basin crisis, which is affecting some 17 million people in the region.

    During his visit, he expected to meet communities affected by the conflict, national authorities, humanitarian partners and the diplomatic community to mobilize additional support for humanitarian operations, with a focus on averting the risk of famine and reaffirming the centrality of protection in humanitarian action.

    In Niger, the number of food-insecure people is around 1.8 million. Some 800,000 children are affected by acute malnutrition and almost 250,000 people are either IDPs, returnees or refugees from Nigeria.

    In northeast Nigeria, around 6.5 million people need life-saving assistance, with 5.2 million of them being severely food-insecure and 450,000 children suffer from severe acute malnutrition, this year.

    With a US$1.1 billion appeal for the country, only 48 per cent of that is been funded.

    Mr. Lowcock assumed office on September 1, 2017, as the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.