The humanitarian assistance agencies working in NWFP and Fata are facing scarcity of financial resources, which is hampering their activities, said United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
According to an official report of OCHA, many agencies dealing with IDPs of Malakand division and Fata have to trim and in some cases shut down the on-going projects, while implementation on new project is difficult due to lack of funding.
The report said that after two months of the launch of the Pakistan Humanitarian Response Programme (PHRP), only 20 percent funds have been released, whereas during the same period of last year financial resources provided were more than double.
The report said that health sector has received 5 percent of the allocated funds, whereas food and basic water sanitation facilities around get 25 percent. If financial assistance is not provided urgently, most of the projects will be suspended, it said.
The report said that the people from Orakzai and Kurram agencies were leaving due to unabated fighting between the militants and the army. It added that the government has now notified Kurram Agency as a conflict-affected area; therefore, 270,426 individuals (45,239 families) of the region have been listed as IDPs.
According to the report, the overall camp population in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa stands at 128,563 individuals (24,875 families). A new camp Togh Sarai has been established in Hangu with a capacity for 1,000 families, and the relocation of IDPs has begun from the old Mohammad Khawaja IDPs camp, which was overcrowded and had inadequate services, the report added.
To assess the scale of possible compensation, the government is currently conducting a survey of damaged and destroyed property in Mohmand Agency. The report stressed the need for establishing additional welfare centres in the displacement areas to facilitate people and called for early rehabilitation of civic amenities.
"Gender needs to be fully integrated into the humanitarian response; therefore gender sensitive communication skills and gender responsive reporting capacities need to be strengthened," it added.
Fifteen Welfare Centres set up by UNHCR and run by its implementing partners provide protection services in Swat and Lower Dir. The centres offer a variety of facilities including counselling in cases of Gender-Based Violence (GBV), health and education services, and assisting female heads of household. Early recovery assistance was also introduced in the main areas of return during March.
Almost 200,000 primary school children, pregnant and lactating women, and participants in livelihood recovery activities, were provided with individual or family rations. While crucial to the social stability of communities coping with the trauma of conflict, severe funding shortages pose a threat to the continuation of these activities from April onwards, the report said.
The report said that due to non availability of funds the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is facing serious problems thus jeopardising its support to 10 schools at Jalozai Camp, where over 5,400 children including 2,300 girls are enrolled. According to the District Education Working Group in Swat, out of 175 fully damaged schools, different organisations have pledged to reconstruct only 48, while 127 still need donors for reconstruction, it maintained.
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