UN agencies and international aid groups operating in the country have won direct commitments of funding of more than Rs. 8,000 million (about US $ 71.2 million) as emergency humanitarian aid for the war displaced people -- while the Government said yesterday it would enforce a 'national framework' for all organisations involved in relief and rehabilitation work.
In addition to the US $71 million committed, these organizations have also got around US $ 19 million made as uncommitted pledges since the recent large-scale displacement of civilians began in the North, according to figures compiled by the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Along with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the UN agencies involved in the operation include the World Food Program (WFP), its refugee agency UNHCR and UNICEF. The money is to be used to provide food, shelters and sanitary facilities for the displaced people in the north. A large amount of the money for the UN agencies has come from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) while several countries, too have committed funds for these organizations, The Sunday Times learns.
Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said priorities would be identified and anyone coming to work here would have to respect those priorities and complement the work being carried out by the government.
On Thursday at a meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, foreign and local NGOs participating sought facilitation to work with the government but were told that they would first need to come forward with specific projects.
"We would like to know what they are going to do before we facilitate the projects," Mr. Samarasinghe said.
The issue of funding for local NGOs figured prominently at the meeting with the President. Local NGO officials said they were facing a shortage of funds due to the global economic crisis.
"We cannot take for granted that we will have an uninterrupted supply of funds anymore just because we know somebody. We don't have that kind of preference most international organizations have," a local NGO official said.
Minister Samarasinghe who was also present at the meeting said the government supported the view that local NGOs should be made partners in the relief operations in the north.
He said that when the President met UN Resident Coordinator Neil Buhne, he had told the UN official that local NGOs should also be given an opportunity of being implementing partners. |
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