2018 Humanitarian Funding Update: looking back at 2018
Since reports on 2018 funding continue to be received well into the first quarter of 2019, this month’s update includes data for last year. At the end of December 2018, US$24.93 billion were required to assist 97.9 million people in urgent need through 21 Humanitarian Response Plans (HRP) and the Syria Regional Response Plan (3RP). At that point, the plans were funded at $14.58 billion, 58.5% of funding requirements. Additional contributions reported in January 2019 bring the total funding figure for UN-led plans to $15.07 billion, 60.5% of funding requirements.
Global requirements for 2018 were $230 million higher than for December 2017. The amount of funding reported against UN-coordinated appeals for 2018 as at 31 January 2019 is $78 million higher than the amount reported for 2017 as at end January 2018.
The perspective for 2019
The GHO 2019 published on 4 December 2018 announced funding requirements of $21.9 billion for 21 Humanitarian Response Plans, the Syria Regional Response Plan (3RP) and the Venezuela Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP). As at the end of January, with the inclusion of the Madagascar Flash Appeal (November 2018 – April 2019), requirements have reached $21.93 billion. These figures do not include those for the Syria HRP, which will be published at a later date.
The GHO 2019 outlined plans to assist an estimated 93.6 million of 131.7 million people assessed to be in need in 2019, as opposed to 97.9 million of 133.3 million people in need at the end of 2018. The Madagascar Flash Appeal (November 2018 – April 2019), the Mozambique Plan (November 2018 - June 2019) and the Venezuela RMRP – all newly tracked – together add 3.36 million people to those to receive humanitarian aid this year.
In 2019, the number of people in need and to receive assistance is higher than last year in five countries (Cameroon, Ethiopia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Yemen) and lower in nine countries (Bangladesh, Burundi, Chad, DRC, Haiti, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia).
As of the end of January 2019, an estimated 95.1 million of 134.1 million people in need are expected to require assistance in 2019.
Plans were finalized in January 2019 for the Central African Republic (CAR), Nigeria, Somalia and Ukraine.
On 7 January, the Government of the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Humanitarian Country Team officially launched the Central African Republic HRP 2019, requesting $430.7 million to assist 1.7 million extremely vulnerable Central Africans. The Humanitarian Coordinator called upon donors to help mobilize funding for CAR to consolidate achievements of previous years and to support humanitarian response in 2019; 900,000 people were provided with humanitarian assistance through the CAR HRP in 2018.
