OCHA: 14 million+ Sudanese expected to need humanitarian assistance in 2021

Funds allocated by the Sudan Humanitarian Fund (SHF)* assisted 7.6 million vulnerable people in Sudan during 2020, according to the annual report of the fund published last week, however the UN Humanitarian Coordinator cautions that 29 per cent of Sudanese are likely to require humanitarian assistance by the end of this year.

In her foreword to the 2020 report, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General, and Humanitarian Coordinator, Khardiate Lo N’Diyane, cautions that a countrywide multi-sector needs assessment that was supported by the SHF and other partners indicated a substantial increase in humanitarian needs in 2021, with more than 14 million people – or 29 per cent of the population – expected to need humanitarian assistance.

For 2021, the SHF has therefore set a funding target equivalent 15 per cent of the funds raised by the HRP in 2020, or $130 million.

Lo N’Diyane points out that “the SHF played an important role in a coordinated, multi- cluster humanitarian response that provided critical support to 7.6 million people, responding in a timely and efficient manner to the needs of the most vulnerable”.

‘In Sudan, 14 million people – or 29 per cent of the population – are expected to need humanitarian assistance in 2021’ – UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Khardiate Lo N’Diyane

Lo N’Diyane explains that almost half the $75 million allocated by the Fund were channelled through the Reserve for Emergencies (RfE), which allowed the SHF to quickly inject funds into the response to five humanitarian crises that affected the country in 2020.

“The SHF supported partners in preventing and containing the spread of COVID-19, and reducing its impact on vulnerable people, and in responding to a locust invasion, a vaccine- derived polio outbreak, unprecedented floods and an influx of refugees from Ethiopia,” Lo N’Diyane says.

While supporting emergency responses, the SHF also contributed to improving vulnerable people’s access to basic services and responding to their protection needs through quality and principled humanitarian action. The fund raised $72.6 million, which Lo N’Diyane points out is the highest amount in seven years, thanks to donations from the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, Italy, Korea, Estonia and private contributors.

“This enabled the SHF to contribute 8.7 percent of the funds raised for the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) in Sudan. It is worth noting that donor support for the HRP was up 40 per cent from 2019,” Lo N’Diyane says.

“It is my sincere hope that the international community will continue to provide adequate and timely contributions to the SHF to enable it to support flexible, efficient and principled humanitarian assistance for the most vulnerable people in Sudan,” Lo N’Diyane concludes.

* The Sudan Humanitarian Fund (SHF) is a multi-donor country-based pooled fund managed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OCHA Sudan under the leadership of the Humanitarian Coordinator.

Read the Sudan Humanitarian Fund Annual Report 2020