Humanitarian Thematic Fund

Somalia, with one of the most complex and protracted humanitarian crises in the world, received two allocations from the HTF in 2022, totalling around $2.5 million. Somalia’s prolonged humanitarian crisis is characterized by ongoing internal conflicts, the collapse of state institutions, the degradation of natural resources, recurrent droughts and other natural disasters, communicable disease outbreaks, and weak social protection mechanisms. On 11 August 2022, the IASC Principals agreed to activate the humanitarian system-wide scale-up response in Somalia to urgently support the ongoing drought response and famine interventions in the country. Through the HTF funding support, UNFPA was able to provide life-saving SRH services for drought-affected populations in the country. At that time, around 7.8 million people were expected to be affected by severe drought and requiring humanitarian or protection assistance.

In 2022, twelve emergency obstetric and newborn care facilities were running in drought-affected locations and free-of-charge referrals to SRH services (including a “24/7” ambulance) were expanded. Continuing in 2023, UNFPA is building upon the previously-established referral mechanism so that it can continue to provide timely and confidential services to survivors of GBV. An estimated 2,000 normal deliveries will be assisted at the mobile emergency obstetric facilities; 1,800 life-threatening obstetric and neonatal complications will be managed at the facilities; and 4,160 patients will receive family planning services at those facilities. A total of 50,000 women, adolescent girls and young women will have benefited from the interventions in the targeted areas through the support of the HTF. 

On 24 April 2022, armed nomads attacked Kereneik town and surrounding villages in Sudan, closing markets, schools, and banks and blocking roads. Access to life-saving SRH services and prevention and response to GBV (along with many other services) were impeded by the security situation in an area of limited coverage of services even during more stable times. HTF resources were received in the UNFPA Sudan country office in a timely manner, supporting improved access to integrated life-saving SRH and GBV prevention and response services for the conflict-affected populations in West Darfur. UNFPA, through its implementing partner, the Child Development Foundation, was able to support internally displaced people and vulnerable host communities in the target locations.

The HTF funding helped provide essential primary health care and life-saving services through two mobile clinics and two temporary clinics. Over 40,000 beneficiaries were reached with general medical consultations, including 12,029 unique beneficiaries who received one or more SRH consultations and services; 284 safe deliveries were conducted; and 576 pregnant women received clean delivery kits. The HTF also supported the deployment of a roving midwifery team that provided 1,278 SRH consultations, including 134 safe deliveries. HTF funding also made possible the operation of four women and girls’ safe spaces that provided psychosocial support services, including recreational, life skills and skill-building activities. These safe spaces also served as entry points for other specialized, survivor-centered services. A total of 41,182 women and girls were reached under the HTF-funded project. 
 

Afghanistan has seen an overall increase of people in need, now estimated at 28.3 million people. The HTF allocation of $2,782,000 to the Afghanistan country office is a cross-year allocation from 2022 to 2023. The IASC system-wide scale-up for Afghanistan was activated on 11 September 2021 and extended until 11 June 2022 as a result of the widespread disruption in services caused by conflict. More than 409,000 people have been newly displaced internally. The HTF-funded project helped the country office deliver integrated SRH and GBV services for women and girls affected by the crisis. This included procurement of reproductive health kits and establishment of three area offices to provide localized support. The three area offices are functioning as regional hubs in the western (Herat), southern (Kandahar), and eastern (Nangarhar) regions of the country. Collectively, they cover 14 provinces with a total population of more than 14.2 million.

The three area offices allowed UNFPA to be present on the ground, resulting in better programme implementation monitoring as well as an improved accountability mechanism. New health facilities and women-friendly health spaces are expected to be established under the guidance of the area offices, which will also take charge of distributing reproductive health kits and tents. The HTF funding has been utilized to scale up the humanitarian interventions that aim to provide life-saving maternal reproductive health as well as prevent, mitigate, and respond to GBV among the affected population, including women and adolescent girls. The funding also supported procurement of 432 inter-agency reproductive health kits to ensure the quality of life-saving services in UNFPA-supported facilities. The project will be completed in 2023, with an estimated 2.9 million people beneficiaries. 
 

Some 2.9 million Afghans are currently residing in Pakistan; most of them live in districts with poor access to services, including primary health services and protection support services. The HTF-supported UNFPA Pakistan to develop a preparedness plan for life-saving interventions to support SRH and GBV services for a potential influx of Afghan refugees starting at the end of 2021 until mid-2022. In order to make up for the lack of SRH services, six mobile health units were established in prefabricated structures to provide safe deliveries, antenatal check-ups, postnatal check-ups, family planning, and services for sexually transmitted infections. SRH services were strengthened in two standing health facilities in which 771 normal deliveries have been conducted, 1,976 women have been provided with antenatal care, and 1,057 women received postnatal care services. Additionally, six women-friendly health spaces were established in prefabricated structures in which women and young girls received GBV protection and support-related information and services while survivors of GBV were provided with relevant assistance, including referrals for specialized services. UNFPA funding procured 850 newborn baby kits, 10,500 women dignity kits, and 2,500 units of personal protective equipment to supply to targeted health facilities and women-friendly health spaces. 

The HTF also supported the Pakistan country office to respond to the monsoon floods emergency in 2022. The flood badly affected 23 out of 29 districts, in which 12 districts were declared as calamity-affected: Mirpurkhas, Shaheed Benazir Abad, Nawsheroferoz, Sanghar, Thatta, Sujawal, Tando Allahyar, Dadu, Umerkot, Jamshoro, Khairpur, Sukkur. 14.5 million people were affected, including 1.6 million people rendered homeless and internally displaced. The cross-year project is still under implementation in 2023, with the objective of providing safe delivery services including emergency obstetric and newborn care services and quality life-saving, integrated SRH and GBV services to women and adolescents in the flood-affected areas, as well as strengthening inter-agency coordination mechanisms. The project aims to reach approximately 60,000 people in total.
 

An HTF-funded project for the Democratic Republic of the Congo sought to support 93,997 people affected by the Movement du 23 Mars (M23) crisis in North Kivu province that broke out in May 2022. Most of the displaced people have been housed in community centers, and others are being hosted by families. The HTF helped strengthen institutional capacities of six health centers and three referral hospitals in three targeted health zones and set up three youth-friendly spaces in three targeted health facilities in North Kivu province. GBV survivors were able to receive quality survivor-centered holistic services according to their needs. Moreover, psychosocial services were provided through creative activities, edutainment, and group therapy psycho-education sessions. A total of 1,800 highly vulnerable girls and women were provided with dignity kits, which were used as an entry point for GBV services awareness and referrals, and 500 vulnerable women and girls were provided with cash and voucher assistance.

On 20 September, 2022, the Ministry of Health in Uganda declared an outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD). The outbreak disrupted supply chains and increased logistical bottlenecks in distributing life-saving SRH supplies to health service delivery points in Uganda. HTF funds were provided in a timely manner to reach 94,010 beneficiaries in the target districts with information on Ebola prevention and access to SRH services, including family planning. In addition, 600 stakeholders, including health workers, para-social workers, head teachers, religious and cultural leaders, and peer educators, were capacitated to disseminate key messages on risk perception and prevention of EVD at the community level, and 656 health workers and 3,400 voluntary health trainers were supported with personal protective equipment and infection prevention and control materials, including surgical and examination gloves, alcohol-based sanitizers, and liquid soap. One hundred midwives at obstetric care facilities were trained on how to assist pregnant women suspected or confirmed with EVD. Two district Ebola task force teams were strengthened, and 250 mother/baby pairs were supplied with dignity kits. A total of 148,382 people received SRH and GBV information and services in the affected districts.

On 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation launched an armed invasion of Ukraine. The situation quickly deteriorated, with major attacks reported across the country, including in the capital, Kyiv. The ongoing war has seriously affected people’s access to crucial services including water, electricity, heating, health care, education, and social protection. The war has caused widespread death, destruction, displacement, and human suffering, and, as of 19 December 2022, was projected to render at least 17.7 million people in need of multi-sectoral humanitarian assistance in 2023. UNFPA is a key partner of the Government of Ukraine in coordinating and implementing GBV prevention and response mechanisms and has been providing multi-sectoral SRH and GBV services to the people of Ukraine. UNFPA’s strategy has been anchored in responding to local situations, aiming to fill emergency SRH and GBV service gaps while ensuring complementarity and partnership with ongoing national efforts and early recovery plans, working to avoid parallel systems.

In the case of Ukraine, the HTF was catalytic in stimulating additional funding and provided much-needed flexibility to kick-start the operations as early as February 2022. Early response included opening of survivor relief centres and the procurement and distribution of dignity kits and inter-agency reproductive health kits. The HTF funded the procurement of a mobile maternity unit that is currently operational in the Kharkiv region, reaching into territories that became accessible in September 2022. The mobile maternity unit is a comprehensive-level emergency obstetric and newborn care mobile clinic that allows people to give birth safely in areas where hospitals and medical facilities were destroyed. For GBV survivors, the mobile maternity unit provides treatment for injuries and post-exposure prophylactic treatment to prevent sexually transmittable infections. It is also constructed in a way to allow for carrying out Caesarean sections on women who have to undergo the procedure in difficult situations.

To help young people overcome the daily challenges in the context of the conflict, UNFPA has developed an online educational course, “Youth Resilience in a Time of Crises,” that has been successfully completed by 15,128 students. UNFPA Ukraine has also designed a new comprehensive psychosocial training programme, “Energy of Your Future,” aimed at helping adolescents cope with war traumas and cumulative stress, working to prevent long-term psychological consequences and building key soft and life skills to enhance their employability. 
 

The conflict in Ukraine has caused unparalleled levels of displacement in Europe, mainly impacting the countries directly bordering Ukraine, including Moldova. With HTF funding, UNFPA Moldova focused on co-leading and strengthening GBV sub-sector coordination at national and sub-national levels and ensuring the provision of quality life-saving GBV-related services and access to them by GBV survivors and women and girls at risk. Through the HTF, UNFPA established and continues to run eleven static safe spaces (four for women and seven for youth) and procured and operated three mobile safe spaces. At least 4,578 beneficiaries benefited from safe space services, including age-appropriate individual and group-based psychosocial support, recreational activities, non-formal education and intercultural dialogue activities, and legal counselling. UNFPA also provided dignity kits, which serve as a GBV risk mitigation measure and an entry point to share information on GBV.

UNFPA supported capacity-building trainings of frontline GBV responders and key multisectoral actors, including the multidisciplinary teams (health care providers, social workers, police), on safe and compassionate response to disclosures of GBV and to survivors as well as on minimum standards for GBV response in emergencies and GBV risk mitigation. Through the HTF, UNFPA also supported five local women-led organizations to reach women, adolescent girls, and children with food, hygiene products, and clothes as well as psychological first aid, legal support, and recreational activities.

To ensure that women and girls, including GBV survivors, have access to life-saving, quality, and well-coordinated GBV response services, UNFPA Moldova focused on: (a) investment in the national SRH system to strengthen the national capacity for comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care provision for women refugees from Ukraine and from host communities; (b) partnership with the National Health Insurance Company to support provision of SRH services for refugees from Ukraine through health institutions; and (c) supporting installation of a generator in Moldova’s only level III perinatal centre, providing security in cases of power outages or major accidents.

Going forward, UNFPA will continue to support the Government of Moldova to strengthen national systems to respond to the needs of the refugees and vulnerable host communities. UNFPA will continue to focus on strengthening the localized approach to GBV prevention and response through supporting national organizations, especially women-led organizations, to effectively respond to the needs of refugees and support development and implementation at the national level of a new minimum standard package of support for refugees. 

The impact of the war in Ukraine has caused large-scale population displacement in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region. As a result, UNFPA launched a regional appeal for Ukraine and neigbouring countries, including Belarus and Moldova. Although UNFPA concentrated its efforts on these three countries, the funds received in the region from the HTF were utilized to assist with a regional response in other countries as well, such as Romania.  With the support of the HTF, UNFPA country offices and partners in Ukraine and neighbouring countries affected by the crisis received coordinated, tailored and timely technical and strategic support. As a result, about 11,826 women and girls were reached directly with information on SRH and GBV services through face-to-face conversations, workshops, and information, education, and communication (IEC) brochures. Coordination and provision of tailored technical, operational support, and practical solutions on SRH and GBV were also provided in a timely and continuous manner to Ukraine and the neighbouring countries. The regional humanitarian team will continue these efforts and respond to the ongoing challenges faced by the affected populations. The UNFPA regional office will continue utilizing the HTF to support key staff positions and related activities to respond to the regional crisis at least until the end of 2023.

Life-threatening needs in the earthquake-affected southern peninsula in Haiti are still present in different sectors despite the ongoing humanitarian response. In 2022, the HTF enabled Haiti to increase access to essential SRH and GBV services and supplies for women of reproductive age in the areas affected by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck southwestern Haiti in August 2021. The earthquake caused severe damage and casualties. Thousands of people were forced to live in open spaces and in spontaneous sites such as churches and schools with little protection against natural elements. Cases of violence increased dramatically during the emergency, and meeting the protection and SRH needs of at-risk women and girls has been challenging.

The cross-year HTF guaranteed the continuity of essential life-saving SRH services in the areas most affected by the earthquake, including by support for emergency obstetric and neonatal care in functional hospitals and other health centres. UNFPA jointly with UN Women conducted a GBV services mapping exercise in order to establish a national referral pathway. Inter-agency reproductive health kits, clean delivery kits, and personal protective equipment were procured and distributed to targeted health facilities. Food insecurity and lack of other basic social services, including maternal and newborn health and protection of women and girls, are among the ongoing needs. It is noteworthy that Haiti has seen an increased requirement of up to $720 million according to the 2023 humanitarian response plan due to growing humanitarian needs, the cholera response, and inflation. IASC system-wide scale-up was activated for Haiti on 17 April 2023. Continuous support to the response is expected. 

HTF funding helped the Guatemala country office to provide life-saving SRH and GBV interventions to improve the implementation of the MISP for reproductive health and GBV in emergencies. Effects of the rainy season and Tropical Storm Julia caused high accumulated rainfall and soil saturation, resulting in damage to homes, educational centres, other infrastructure, and the country's communication networks as well as having adverse effects on the economy, food security, and health services. UNFPA coordinated with UNHCR, UNICEF and the GBV sub-cluster actors to support the protection of women and adolescent girls, the implementation of GBV survivor-centred actions and the provision of dignity kits UNFPA also coordinated with WHO and the Association of Community Health Services, an NGO with extensive experience in community actions in humanitarian situations, to provide essential and rapid response to women and girls in need. With the support of the HTF, UNFPA was able to strengthen the referral system for GBV cases, supply equipment and transport for communities to hospitals for comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care, and provide safe delivery services. About 2,000 dignity kits were distributed for women of reproductive age. The HTF also supported women and girls’ safe spaces to promote GBV awareness and mitigation and to assist those seeking help, working through a partnership with the non-governmental organization ECAP. 

Around $1.5 million from the HTF was allocated to strengthen humanitarian capacity in the West and Central Africa region, mainly to the Central African Republic, Cameroon, and Chad. These countries have been in a protracted humanitarian crisis for several years. Working through a multi-year project that started in 2021 and continued in 2022, HTF funding supported the country offices in their humanitarian programming and allowed them the space to develop strategic resource mobilization plans to meet future humanitarian response efforts. Humanitarian response coordination was strengthened by supporting the staffing of information management officers, helping to fulfil UNFPA’s lead role in data collection, analyses of needs, and monitoring of the GBV response. In the West and Central Africa region, UNFPA has been investing in human resource development to ensure the continuity of operational GBV coordination structures that are capable of scaling up to meet needs as they arise. HTF funding filled gaps in SRH and GBV response service delivery, improved quality standards and increased coverage of services in the three countries based on the priority areas identified in the countries’ humanitarian needs assessments.

In addition to the regional funding, additional HTF funding was allocated to Cameroon in 2022 to meet increasing humanitarian needs. Since 10 September 2022, the humanitarian situation in the Far North of Cameroon has been exacerbated by floods resulting from unusually heavy rainfalls. The HTF supported life-saving integrated SRH and GBV response services for populations affected by that flooding. The multi-year project will ensure the management of obstetric and newborn complications through the provision of both basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric services. It will also support the procurement and distribution of long-acting reversible and short-acting contraceptive methods. Six women and girls’ safe spaces will be set up, and cash assistance to women and older girls as part of case management will also be provided. A total of 85,000 people are estimated to be reached through this project, which will continue in 2023. 

Chad has been experiencing flood emergencies in parts of the country, and UNFPA has been responding in the most affected provinces. Nationwide, around 622,550 people are affected and around 373,530 are displaced. Thanks to the HTF funding, UNFPA was able to deliver integrated SRH and GBV services for the affected population. Women and girls in targeted areas of flood-affected provinces will have access to GBV risk mitigation interventions in line with the inter-agency minimum standards for GBV in emergencies. Services will be provided in safe spaces near internally displaced communities to ensure community awareness-raising on GBV. Women and girls will also have uninterrupted access to quality integrated SRH services (family planning, prenatal care, and safe delivery services, including emergency obstetric and neonatal care). Life-saving supplies such as clean delivery kits, newborn baby kits, inter-agency reproductive health kits, and dignity kits will be distributed as well. In total, the HTF will assist 272,612 people, including 62,701 women of reproductive age, 32,713 adolescent girls, and around 7,000 currently pregnant women to experience safe pregnancies and deliveries and have healthy newborns.