Norway contributes USD23.7 mn of flexible funding to boost FAO's capacity to respond to crises, emergencies

Rome [Italy], April 2 (ANI/WAM): The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has welcomed a USD 23.7 million contribution from the Government of Norway to scale up its response to the most severe humanitarian crises and emergencies. The contribution represents the largest single unearmarked funding of its kind to date.
The funds will be channelled through FAO's Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities (SFERA), which is a funding mechanism with streamlined procedures to receive flexible contributions from donors and allocate them where and when they are most needed.
With this funding, FAO aims to reach around 600 000 food-insecure people with farming inputs, livestock supplies, fishing inputs and cash assistance where needed. The contribution will focus on countries and people most in need under Humanitarian Response Plans while having a strategic reserve to respond quickly to sudden onset emergencies.
"We would like to thank the Government of Norway for this generous and timely contribution which will enable us to provide rapid and at-scale assistance to those in greatest need," said Rein Paulsen, Director of the FAO Office of Emergencies and Resilience. "Norway's partnership with FAO has always focused on empowering rural families affected by hunger to protect and restore their own food production. It is of utmost importance to prioritize smallholder agriculture as a strategic frontline humanitarian response."
Through the SFERA 2022 contribution, Norway was also among the first countries to assist the earthquake-affected families in Turkiye and the Syrian Arab Republic. Assistance is also being delivered in Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mali, Mozambique and Niger.
Under the 2023 humanitarian appeals, FAO requires USD 1.9 billion to assist 48 million people to restore local production and gain access to a steady supply of nutritious food, facilitate their recovery and lay the foundations for resilience to future shocks. (ANI/WAM)