1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Steady improvement in the humanitarian situation has continued across northern Uganda. Since the issuance of the 2008 Consolidated Appeal (CAP) for Uganda six months ago, the last remaining restrictions on the freedom of movement have been lifted and a further 10% of the displaced population has left the camps of the Acholi, Lango and Teso sub-regions to move to villages of origin or transit sites closer to the farm lands and gardens from which many households derive their primary source of income. While the pace of return remains uneven across the Acholi and Teso sub-regions, the gradually increasing number of returnees has prompted further action by the Government and aid agencies to develop coordinated strategies for consolidating the peace dividends that have accrued since August 2006, despite the lack of a final conclusion to the Juba Peace Process.
Indeed, ensuring the sustainability of these gains within the three-year framework of the Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) for Northern Uganda is essential to the long-term stability of the region. Thus, across the districts hosting internally displaced persons (IDPs), the humanitarian imperative for the next 18 months (July 2008 to December 2009) will be to help consolidate peace by actively supporting the Government’s lead role in stabilising the needs of the vulnerable population, while working to ensure that IDPs achieve the durable solutions recognised under the Uganda IDP Policy and further endorsed by the Camp Phase-out Guidelines issued by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) in May 2008, namely: voluntary return; settlement in the former IDP camp; and relocation to another part of the country.
Unfortunately, despite the recognition of the decreasing humanitarian needs in the Acholi, Lango and Teso sub-regions made in the CAP 2008, with its attendant shift away from traditional emergency programming toward community-based recovery activities that complement other initiatives under the umbrella of the PRDP, low donor response has left the various clusters without the means of implementing most of their transitional programming. With less than 31% funding for the early recovery and recovery projects included in the CAP, basic service delivery and livelihood support in all IDP-hosting areas and in Karamoja are underfunded. Where possible, some of the more recovery- oriented projects have been withdrawn, wholly or in part, from this revised CAP.
It is critical that all partners recognise the potential risk: if humanitarian concerns persist or worsen due to lack of funding for projects aimed at stabilising displaced and returning populations, any sustainable recovery will be delayed, or even jeopardised.
Adding to concerns about the relatively low funding of the CAP is the deteriorating situation in Karamoja, which is fast approaching a worst-case food security scenario. While it is still too early to predict the massive failure of crops in the Karamoja region, the prolonged dry spell – for the third consecutive year – continues to delay the single cropping season and increase the susceptibility of livestock to deadly diseases. Even if rainfall does increase, there is a scarcity of cereal seeds for planting in the region. Visible signs of malnutrition have been reported in Karamoja, with global acute malnutrition (GAM) rates in both Moroto and Nakapiripirit Districts approaching 16% already in February 2008 (1). Further aspects of vulnerability can be seen in the migration of the rural destitute to peri-urban areas within southern Karamoja and a noticeable increase in out-migration from the region. In Karamoja, therefore, particular attention must be paid to emergency preparedness and response, with specific emphasis on supporting the pastoralist economy as a humanitarian action and taking into account the particular needs of vulnerable groups, including women and girls.
Overall, through the mid-year review (MYR) process, humanitarian and development partners in Uganda have striven to sharpen the humanitarian focus in northern Uganda and to augment the capacity to prepare and respond in Karamoja. In this regard, all projects included in the revised CAP have been prioritised on a three-tier system that indicates short-term, high-impact projects (A), medium-term projects (B); and projects that do not respond to critical needs and/or needs that can be satisfied in the short- or medium-term (C). The projects have also been classified as humanitarian, early recovery or recovery. In keeping with the shortened implementation timeframe remaining before the end of 2008, the total requirements for any unfunded projects have been reduced. Thus, the revised requests for the Uganda CAP 2008 are US$372,475,934, (2) against which some $166,659,652, or 45%, has been committed to date.
Notes:
(1) MoH/UNICEF/WFP, Nutrition Assessment, February 2008.
(2) All dollar signs in this document denote United States dollars. Funding for this appeal should be reported to the Financial Tracking Service (FTS), fts@reliefweb.int), which will display requirements and current funding information on the CAP 2008 web page.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Table I. Summary of Requirements, Commitments/Contributions and Pledges per Sector
Table II. Summary of Requirements, Commitments/Contributions and Pledges by Priority
Table III. Summary of Requirements, Commitments/Contributions and Pledges per Appealing Organisations
2. CHANGES IN THE CONTEXT, HUMANITARIAN NEEDS AND RESPONSE
3. RESPONSE TO DATE, AND UPDATED STRATEGIC AND SECTORAL RESPONSE PLANS
3.1 RESPONSE TO DATE
3.2 UPDATED STRATEGIC PRIORITIES 3.3 RESPONSE TO DATE PER CLUSTER AND UPDATED SECTOR RESPONSE PLANS
3.3A Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM)
3.3B Coordination
3.3C Education
3.3D Food Security and Agricultural Livelihoods (FSAL)
3.3E Governance, Infrastructure & Livelihoods (Early Recovery)
3.3F Health, Nutrition and HIV/AIDS
3.3G Multi-Sector
3.3H Protection
3.3I Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
Table IV. List of Projects (grouped by sector) with Funding Status
4. NEW AND REVISED PROJECTS
5. CONCLUSION
6. NEW AND REVISED PROJECTS SHEETS
ANNEX I. ADDITIONAL FUNDING TABLES
ANNEX II. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
Please note that appeals are revised regularly. The latest version of this document is available on http://www.humanitarianappeal.net
Note: The full text of this appeal is available on-line in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format and may also be downloaded in zipped MS Word format.
Full Original Mid-Year Review[pdf* format][zipped MS Word format]
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