How to break the cycle of underfunding for forgotten humanitarian crises

In 2023, the World Food Programme (WFP) was unable to provide "vital food aid" to 10 million people in Afghanistan owing to a lack of funds. Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Humanitarian needs worldwide have exploded over the past two decades. Some of the worst crises are among the most starved of funds, forcing United Nations agencies to make difficult choices.

“The suffering of displaced populations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is indescribable,” says Angèle Dikongue-Atangana. In a video call from Kinshasa, the representative of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in the country expresses her frustration: “The needs are huge. It is a euphemism to say that the humanitarian response is under-funded.”

The crisis in the DRC is regarded by NGOs as one of the world’s most neglected. Three decades of conflict have cost 8 million Congolese their lives, according to the UN. Today, some 7 million (out of a population of about 100 million) are displaced within their own country, which also finds itself host to half a million refugees from neighbouring states. That does not include some 2 million people who currently live in uncertainty between displacement and returning home.

To assist these populations, the UNHCR needed to raise $233 million (CHF205 million) in 2023. By the end of December, though, the organisation had received no more than 43% of this amount. Dikongue-Atangana finds the situation alarming: “We are forced to make very difficult choices with a population that is already very fragile; we have to choose who among the weakest and most vulnerable we can shelter.”

Just like in the DRC, several crises are starved of relief funds. In the past 20 years, climate change and the multiplication of conflicts have given rise to an explosion of humanitarian needs around the world. The Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war have put a strain on the budget of major donors, and put pressure on aid agencies.

Forgotten crises

In the case of the DRC, there is even talk of a “forgotten crisis”, where the rather cursory media coverage accentuates the lack of funding.

“This country has been going through outbreaks of violence and a latent conflict for decades. This long timescale is a real problem because the public loses interest and a kind of lassitude sinks in,” says Valérie Gorin, an expert in humanitarian communication at the University of Geneva. “These armed conflicts tend to get less funding than natural disasters, where people have the false impression that the problem can be tackled quickly by rebuilding.”

Thus, while humanitarian responses by the UN aimed at the DRC, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen or Myanmar do not get half the funding needed, those launched in 2023 after the earthquake in Turkey and Syria or the floods in Libya have surged beyond the half-way mark.

Another factor explaining the disparity in dealing with crises is their proximity – geographical or ideological – to Europe and the United States, which are the main donors of UN aid. This is why humanitarian plans for Ukraine and the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel are the best funded, says the researcher.

Difficult choices

In Afghanistan, where the needs amount to $3.84 billion (the fifth-worst crisis after Syria, Ukraine, Yemen and Ethiopia), funding sources suddenly dried up. By mid-December, there was no more than 40% of the intended budget available.

When the Taliban seized power in August 2021, the humanitarian situation in the country deteriorated markedly, with the complete collapse of the economy. To this overall national disaster have been added a number of natural disasters.

Now, over two-thirds of the population need assistance. One Afghan in three – that’s 15 million people – is faced with acute food insecurity. For lack of resources, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) had to cancel “vital aid” to 10 million people in 2023. The organisation will not be able to offer support to the population this winter and has to choose between “people who are hungry and those actually dying of hunger”.

When the WFP announced its scaling back of assistance, Philippe Kropf, its head of communication in Afghanistan, visited the aid distribution sites. He saw “heartbreaking” scenes with mothers and fathers in tears, getting no rations, asking how they were going to feed their children.

He reports: “My colleagues had to explain to already very vulnerable families that they no longer qualified and that the programme had no more food or money to hand out. And their situation hasn’t changed.”

Changing approaches

Another country, same story: in Myanmar, humanitarian needs have tripled in the last two years. But there is no money.

“We are seeing a decline in funding. It is more and more difficult to secure funding sources that are available long-term for populations in need,” says Julia Rees, deputy representative of the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, in Myanmar.

As a result, UNICEF has given priority to serving the most vulnerable children and finding means of working most effectively. This means identifying where the people most at risk are located, finding the most effective aid strategies – usually involving health, water, sanitation and education – and working closely with local groups who can provide support in places that are difficult to access.

Heavy burden for humanitarian workers

Working in forgotten crises is also very tough on humanitarian staff.

“What we see are people on the edge of burn-out,” says Dikongue-Atangana in the DRC. “Because you are always thinking of how much you can do with so little. It’s tiring, in the end. I can tell you that the DRC is one of the countries in the world that attract the fewest humanitarian workers.”

Rees points out that in Myanmar, UNICEF teams on the ground operate in “extraordinarily difficult” and “extremely stressful” circumstances. “They are there to provide services with a particular aim. When they lack the resources needed to do it, it gets really difficult for them,” she says.

In spite of the challenges, Kropf of the WFP in Afghanistan tries to remain optimistic. “Many donors are telling us: ‘We trust you. We know that you are able to deliver aid. It’s just that we have no money for you right now’,” he says.

A system needing change

For 2024, world humanitarian needs are estimated at $46 billion, less than the record $57 billion in 2023. Just for comparison, the figure was $5 billion in 2005.

Given the explosion in need, “the humanitarian system needs a complete re-think,” says Gorin at the University of Geneva. “The humanitarian agencies are being asked to bring relief to immediate human suffering caused by violence and natural disasters. On top of that, they are often expected to reset economies and ensure peace.” What’s needed, in her view, is to end the current silos approach of having separate funding streams for humanitarian work, development aid and consolidation of peace.

For Gorin, the current aid system – largely dominated by the Western powers, both in terms of method and funding – needs to adapt and open up to emergent donor states, such as Turkey, the Gulf states, China and India..

Edited by Virginie Mangin; adapted from French by Terence MacNamee/gw