The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has today welcomed donor fund increments to support the 1.26 million refugees in Uganda. According to a press statement by the WFP country director El-Khidir Daloum, the European Union, Ireland and the United Kingdom have provided an additional €3.5 million, €1 million and £6.8 million respectively, as well as the United States of America, which contributed $15 million more to WFP last year compared to 2019 and 2018.
Daloum says Ireland also brought forward its original contribution for 2020 by four months because of the urgent food needs while the US provided advance financing against a recently confirmed $36 million contribution. The US advance funding, he says meant that WFP could now buy food early from local markets for distribution to refugees.
"This is exactly what is needed: donors who continuously mobilize resources from their capitals and do all they can to help, knowing that the stakes are high with a refugee population in Uganda comprised of many mothers with young children and fragile livelihoods who suffer when we have to cut rations," said Daloum.
Without the additional funding, WFP would have had almost no resources at all for its refugee relief operation in recent months. The extra funding cushioned refugees during a period of high food insecurity caused by the lingering impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns and a 30 per cent WFP ration cut since April 2020.
WFP says despite the increased support from some donors, it was forced to increase the food ration reduction to 40 per cent from February 2021 because the longer-term outlook for funding was "extremely challenging", warning that based on its funding forecasts, it cannot rule out deeper refugee ration cuts in the coming months.
New donors are needed to secure a steady food supply in 2021 in line with the international community's commitments to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of refugees under Uganda's Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF).
"We cannot stop our support until all refugees can return home," Daloum said.
Uganda is host to 1.45 million refugees, one of the largest refugee populations hosted by a single country. Nearly 90 per cent of the refugees or 1.26 million live in a total of 13 rural settlements having arrived in Uganda with little or no assets, which leaves them heavily dependent on WFP's continued assistance.
Uganda provides the refugees with land and allows them to work and move freely as part of its own commitment under the CRRF. But refugees remain vulnerable partly because of limited access to farmland, bad weather in some settlements and limited income earning opportunities. WFP provides them with monthly relief assistance in the form of in-kind food or cash to meet their basic food needs. The level of assistance depends on funding availability.
The following donors have contributed to WFP's refugee operation since 2020: Canada ($3.3 million), Denmark ($1million), European Commission ($9.1million), Ireland ($2.2 million), Republic of Korea ($6.5 million in-kind), United Kingdom ($27.4 million) and United States of America ($84.25 million).
Source
