UN CERF Annual Report 2012 January 2012 - December 2012 | Page 42

CERF’S DONORS

UGANDA

2012 was a strong fundraising year for
CERF. Member States and the private sector

Giving birth safely in refugee
settlements in Uganda

provided more than $427 million in pledged
contributions, allowing CERF to meet the
growing demand for humanitarian aid to
assist crisis-stricken people.
This occurred despite the slow global economy and
its effects on the budgets of both donors and partner
agencies. Additionally, more than 60 per cent of the
pledges for 2012 yielded contributions by the end of the
first quarter, giving CERF the funds needed to respond to
emergencies early in the year.
Credit: UNDP

The positive development continued at the CERF HighLevel Pledging Conference in December, where 40 Member
States and one Observer pledged more than $383 million
to CERF for its 2013 activities. This represents an increase
of nearly $9 million above the amount pledged during the
previous Conference.

Twenty-two-year-old Nabulungi was five months
pregnant when she fled her home in the DRC in May
2012 due to fighting between the Government and
the M23 rebel group. Nabulungi was soon transferred
to Rwamwanja settlement in Kamwenge District in
south-west Uganda, together with 10,000 other
Congolese refugees.

CERF has now received support from 125 of 193 Member
States and Observers since its inception, as well as from
private donors and the public. Forty-one countries both
contribute and receive CERF funds.
CERF will still need substantial funding in the coming years,
and will again rely on Member States, the private sector and
individuals to provide the support necessary to continue
to ensure critical and timely life-saving assistance to those
most in need.
At the same time, the donor base must be expanded and
diversified. In 2012, the CERF secretariat revised its
resource mobilization strategy and efforts will be made
in 2013 to strengthen traditional government partnerships
and build and nurture new relationships.

“

The rapid and flexible support offered

by CERF makes it a central pillar of UN agencies’
humanitarian response. The agencies have
repeatedly told us that support from CERF
enhances their ability to respond timely and
adequately to humanitarian emergencies.

Credit: OCHA/Gemma Cortes
42

CERF 2012 ANNUAL REPORT

Valerie Amos,
Emergency Relief Coordinator

”

On 26 August 2012 Nabulungi delivered a healthy baby
boy. She was lucky. Before the CERF allocation, three
babies died because their mothers did not receive timely
emergency obstetrical care.
“Thanks to CERF funding, we have been able to improve
the registration process of all pregnant women among
the new arrivals to the settlement”, reports Janet
Jackson, UNFPA Uganda Country Representative.
“Volunteers have been mobilized from the host and
refugee communities to ensure that women have access
to health care during pregnancy, child birth, and after
delivery. Ambulance services are available in the event
of emergencies, and dignity kits including sanitary items
are distributed. These improvements would not have
been possible without CERF funding.”

43

CERF’S DONORS

Girl getting water from source in
Dungu, Democratic Republic of
the Congo.

In response to the refugee influx into Uganda, CERF
allocated $6.8 million to humanitarian partners,
including UNICEF, WHO, WFP, FAO, UNFPA, UNHCR
and IOM. UNFPA received $200,000 to support
maternal health care and attend deliveries. When
Nabulungi arrived at the Rwamwanja settlement in May,
pregnant women had to deliver in temporary shelters.
Only one ambulance was available, not enough to
transport the pregnant women in the settlement to a
hospital. CERF funding provided additional ambulances,
including the one that drove Nabulungi to the Fort Portal
regional referral hospital, which is some 80 kilometres
from the settlement camp.