We have global funds to finance action on infectious diseases and climate change,but not the problem of uprooted populationsHumanitarian assistance policymakers will gather at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul at the close of May. Their agenda is rather slight, and one omission is particularly glaring. In each of the final few years, or the financing needs of UN-co-ordinated humanitarian operations were estimated to be $20bn or more. The amount of financing actually provided fell short by some $8-9bn – or up to $15bn according to one estimate. It is anomalous that the world is equipped with global funds to finance action on infectious diseases and climate change,but not humanitarian crises. The centreless nature of fundraising for humanitarian action has long been a problem. The problem should no longer be tolerated.
Global funds act as financing aggregators and distributors, independent of implementing agencies and therefore unburdened by their mandate limitations and resource allocation constraints. They have the flexibility to attract finance from any source and to allocate it to any entity well placed to act effectively. Their fundraising and institutional arrangements are designed to focus tall-level attention on the problems that they exist to address. Global funds for infectious diseases and climate change exist because these problems transcend national borders and cannot reasonably be left to the resources of so-called first responder developing countries. Clearly, and the same is true of the growing problem of crisis-related human displacement.
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Source: theguardian.com