Fund launched to support "forgotten disasters" - Humanitarian Coalition's three-year Canadian Humanitarian Assistance Fund launched with support of Government of Canada
OTTAWA, Oct. 29, 2015 /CNW/ - Canadian humanitarian agencies will be better able to respond to global emergencies that may not get the attention they deserve.
The Humanitarian Coalition and its members are proud to announce that, after a successful one-year pilot phase in 2014, the Canadian government has extended its funding to the Humanitarian Coalition's Canadian Humanitarian Assistance Fund (CHAF) for an additional three years with a total budget of $9.5 million.
The CHAF is a unique Canadian humanitarian funding mechanism, managed by the Humanitarian Coalition and co-financed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFATD) and the Coalition member agencies. It responds to an important funding gap by supporting timely and reliable humanitarian assistance to people affected by smaller-scale, rapid-onset disasters. The CHAF enables the humanitarian community to respond to crises which receive very little global media attention and where assistance is particularly difficult to finance.
During a one-year pilot phase in 2014, the CHAF funded the responses of Humanitarian Coalition member agencies to eight smaller scale disasters, providing aid to more than 250,000 people in Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Niger, Nepal, Bangladesh, Turkey and India.
"Just because an emergency may appear 'small' compared to the ongoing situation in Syria or the devastating earthquake in Nepal, does not mean it is any less of a crisis for the people affected," says Nicolas Moyer, Executive Director of the Humanitarian Coalition. "With its commitment to provide an average of $3.2 million annually to the CHAF until April 2018, DFATD is supporting the Humanitarian Coalition's efforts to provide assistance to the survivors of these disasters as quickly and effectively as possible."
Humanitarian Coalition members CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Québec, Plan Canada and Save the Children Canada have an on-the-ground presence in more than 120 countries. Through community-level relationships and strong program capacity these agencies are well-equipped to offer rapid and appropriate responses to localized disasters.
Already since mid-September, the CHAF has been activated to assist 30,000 people affected by floods in Benin (CARE Canada), an outbreak of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Oxfam-Québec) and Floods in Sierra Leone (Plan Canada). For more information on projects funded through the CHAF or how the mechanism works, please visit: www.together.ca
The Humanitarian Coalition is a joint appeal mechanism. It is comprised of CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Québec, Plan Canada and Save the Children Canada. We bring together Canada's leading aid agencies to finance relief efforts in times of international humanitarian crises. We work together to eliminate unnecessary competition, reduce the duplication of fundraising costs, and inform the public on humanitarian needs. Follow us on and . To make a donation for the Syrian refugee crisis go to www.together.ca or call 1-800-464-9154.
SOURCE Humanitarian Coalition
Image with caption: "Logo: Humanitarian Coalition (CNW Group/Humanitarian Coalition)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20151029_C5977_PHOTO_EN_532500.jpg
Humanitarian Coalition, Yose Cormier, 613 292 2687, [email protected]; Oxfam-Québec, Justine Lesage, 514 513 0013, [email protected]; CARE Canada, Darcy Knoll, 613 790 2134, [email protected]; Plan Canada, Dena Allen, 416 723 6340, [email protected]; Oxfam Canada, Melanie Gallant, 613 240 3047, [email protected]; Save the Children, Katharine Harris, 647 973 1185, [email protected]
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