FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION BRIEFING ON 2010

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 UN ROME 000086 SIPDIS STATE FOR IO USAID FOR DCHA, OFDA, GH, FFP AND AFRICA BUREAU; USDA FAS FOR PHILBROOK AND SHEIKH; TREASURY FOR MORRIS AND GANDHI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: FAO AORC EAID PREF EAGR UN WFP SUBJECT: FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION BRIEFING ON 2010 HUMANITARIAN CONSOLIDATED APPEALS PROCESS (CAP) UN ROME 00000086 001.3 OF 002 -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. On December 10, the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) Emergency Operations and Rehabilitation Division (TCE) briefed donors on FAO's component of the 2010 Humanitarian Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP). At $7.1 billion, the 2010 CAP addresses 12 major crises, covering the needs of 48 million people in 25 countries, for which FAO's component is $222.76 million for agricultural inputs, veterinary medicines, and training in Afghanistan, CAR, Chad, Kenya, OPT, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, West Africa, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. Presently in 2009, the U.S. is the third largest donor to the TCE, having contributed over $18 million. In its briefing, TCE cited Zimbabwe as the 2009 success story, where humanitarian organizations joined under the FAO/WFP food security cluster to distribute seeds, fertilizers and other inputs to over 700,000 families who saw their food production double as a result. This cluster was also attributed as helping WFP in part to reduce its food aid projections for Zimbabwe from $278 million in 2009 to $58 million in 2010. End Summary. -------------- -------------- FAO Component of 2010 Humanitarian Consolidated Appeals Process -------------- -------------- ¶2. On December 10, Assistant Director General (ADG) Jose Maria Sumpsi and TCE Director Laurent Thomas briefed donors on FAO's component of the 2010 Humanitarian CAP, which was formally launched by OCHA in Geneva on November 30, and displayed the 8-minute OCHA film depicting three African families affected by poverty, hunger and malnutrition. The CAP represents 400 humanitarian organizations jointly planning, coordinating, implementing and monitoring responses to natural/manmade disasters and complex emergencies, and appealing for funds in a cohesive manner. For 2010, the $7.1 billion appeal addresses 12 major crises, covering the needs of 48 million people in 25 countries. FAO's component is estimated at $222.76 million for 11 of these crises: Afghanistan ($20),CAR ($2),Chad ($7.8), Kenya ($13.75),OPT ($10.62),Somalia ($21),Sudan ($59.8), Uganda ($10.2),West Africa ($35.9),Yemen ($11.8),and Zimbabwe ($29.2). The majority of FAO's projects address protracted crises, providing needed agricultural inputs such as seeds and tools to boost the food security of IDPs and other vulnerable farming communities, veterinary medicines, and training. For country-by-country details, please consult: http://www.fao.org/emergencies/appeals/cap201 0. (Note: FAO reported that Nepal decided to withdraw its CAP appeal due to "negative image" concerns, but may launch a traditional appeal at a later date. Likewise, an ongoing mission in North Korea to review agricultural production levels may result in an additional appeal. End Note) -------------- Funding Concerns -------------- ¶3. ADG Sumpsi noted that FAO, with its agriculture, food security and livelihoods partners - particularly WFP - had analyzed needs, identified gaps, and planned and prioritized the most urgent response for the donor community to consider. He highlighted the overall progress in the funding of humanitarian appeals, noting that the gap between the lowest and highest funded appeal had been reduced, but stressed this was not the case for the agriculture sector. ¶4. TCE Director Laurent Thomas acknowledged that humanitarian crises have to be addressed using a twin track approach combining safety nets and food assistance with interventions to boost food production and address the root causes of the problems. He stressed that the international community needs to give greater importance to disaster risk management, including early warning and vulnerability assessments, in order to enable affected populations to respond timely to food security threats UN ROME 00000086 002.3 OF 002 and emergencies. Thomas reported that funding for FAO's component of the CAP and the agriculture sector in particular remains low -- slightly under 50 percent (while funding for "flash appeals," which agencies launch in response to sudden onset crises, hovers around 20 percent). He promised to provide analysis early in 2010 on funding issues. -------------- -------------- CAP Funding Examples: Zimbabwe and Central African Republic -------------- -------------- ¶5. The significance of the CAP was illustrated through two examples from 2009, Zimbabwe and CAR: A) Zimbabwe was cited as 2009's success story. Due to political interventions by Kofi Annan, Chair of the Alliance for the Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA),with the Government of Zimbabwe, 63 national and international humanitarian organizations were able to join under the FAO/WFP food security cluster to distribute seeds, fertilizers and other inputs to over 700,000 families who saw their food production double as a result. This project was also attributed as helping WFP in part to reduce its food aid requirements for Zimbabwe from $278 million in 2009 to $58 million in 2010. Thomas stressed the need for strengthening food security coordination capacities, particularly at the country and local levels, in order to ensure improved needs-based and prioritized responses and increase humanitarian impact. The cluster example in Zimbabwe, he opined, contributed to both the rapid availability of food and the timely restoration of agricultural livelihoods. B) Since 2003, CAR has been part of the CAP. Although donors responded generously to food assistance needs, very little funding was provided to sustain food production. Noting that 1.2 million people (or one-third of the population) are food insecure, Thomas made a plea for donors to support agriculture needs of IDPs and returnees. ¶6. The briefing was well attended and well received. Donors focused questions on the political dialogue TCE has with beneficiary countries which have the primary responsibility for their own food security (TCE appeals, Thomas responded, are designed in support of government strategies based on FAO Strategic Objective I -- building capacities of countries to prepare for and respond to emergencies, including during the transition from relief to development). A question on internal capacities during a process of reform revealed that progress has been made in streamlining procurement and administrative budget procedures, but the level is far from satisfactory, according to Thomas. The U.S., echoed by Canada, remarked that the Zimbabwe example should be advertised due to the five-fold savings in food aid that would stretch the humanitarian dollar (Thomas responded that TCE will embark on an improved communications strategy in 2010). -------------- Comment -------------- ¶7. During the past five years, FAO's agriculture relief and rehabilitation portfolio has grown from $260 million in 65 countries in 2004 to $824 million covering 117 countries in 2008, in part due to increased donor confidence in FAO's steadily improving response capacity. The emergency work done by FAO's TCE now represents roughly 40-50 percent of FAO's field program at any given time, drawing from the expertise of FAO's technical divisions. One example is TCE's work to prevent national and trans-boundary animal and plant disease outbreaks -- expertise no other UN agency contains. Mission sees value in continued support for this work. GLOVER