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 5 February 2010
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UN agencies face budget shortfall for operations in Yemen

05/02/2010

United Nations relief agencies are warning a lack of funds may force them to scale down their relief operations in Yemen where government forces are fighting insurgents.

Yemeni child

Yemeni child

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) says the dire funding situation is seriously diminishing its capacity to register and document refugees and internally displaced people in the country.

This will have a direct impact on about a quarter of a million internally displaced people and over 170,000 refugees in Yemen.

UNHCR points out that these funds are also needed to expanding camps for displaced people and provide shelter materials, including tents and plastic sheeting as well as basic items such as blankets, mattresses and hygiene kits.

The other agency facing this problem is the World Food Programme (WFP), which is providing food rations to people in Yemen.

WFP spokesperson, Emilia Casella says the agency has provided a loan of $4 million from its resources to cover funding for a number of weeks.

"In the meantime the World Food Programme will be speaking to donors, particularly those in the region about the budget shortfall that's faced by our operation. If donor funds are not found in the next few weeks, it's likely to lead to further ration reductions and possibly the suspension of a number of programmes in Yemen by the end of the first half of this year."

Emilia Casella notes that Yemen is just one of a number of countries where WFP's operations are likely to face budget shortfalls in 2010.

Jocelyne Sambira, for UN Radio
Duration: 1'36"

Sound bites

Emilia Casella, WFP spokesperson

"In the meantime the World Food Programme will be speaking to donors, particularly those in the region about the budget shortfall that's faced by our operation. If donor funds are not found in the next few weeks, it's likely to lead to further ration reductions and possibly the suspension of a number of programmes in Yemen by the end of the first half of this year."
Duration: 00:00:22

Emilia Casella, WFP spokesperson

"This morning WFP has approved a $ 4 million loan from its internal immediate response account to our Yemen operations to allow the continuation of programmes addressing the hunger needs of the displaced from the Sa'ada conflict, refugees and a great number of people who had been fielding the ongoing impact of continued high food prices and the global financial crisis. This was is a bridging loan that would cover funding for a number of weeks."
Duration: 00:00:32

Emilia Casella, WFP spokesperson

"Yemen is just one of a number of countries where WFP's operations are likely to face budget shortfalls in 2010 and our internal immediate response account is not going to be able to cover them all."
Duration: 00:00:13

Emilia Casella, WFP spokesperson

"Unfortunately in February, we are already reducing rations in Yemen. This has already begun across the board throughout the areas where we work in Yemen, and it consists of a reduction in the ration to 1,700 kilo calories approximately, and that's down from the normal ration which would be 2,100 kilo calories per person per day, so it's something that everyone is going to be facing to some degree or another."
Duration: 00:00:33

Emilia Casella, WFP spokesperson

"Last June we already suspended an important safety net in Yemen, what we call our country programme, which was assisting up to 800 thousand people, providing women and children, children under 5, with supplementary nutrition feeding and also our school feeding and food for education programmes in which children also bring take-home rations to their families and this was unfortunately suspended last June due to lack of funds."
Duration: 00:00:32