‘Money alone won’t get us there’: UN steps up aid for 12 forgotten crises
UN releases $160 million for 12 severely underfunded emergencies
Qinilo.com – Humanitarian agencies will receive a new $160 million injection to sustain life-saving assistance in 12 of the world’s most overlooked crises, but the United Nations has warned that funding cannot substitute for safe and reliable access to people in need.
The package was announced on Friday by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), led by Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher. It is intended to support people caught in emergencies that have received too little international funding despite acute needs.
The scale of the challenge is stark: 87 million people are facing the year’s most severe humanitarian crises. For many of them, assistance depends not only on whether aid agencies have resources, but also on whether roads, crossing points and borders are accessible and whether authorities allow relief operations to reach communities safely.
“We have 87 million people to reach, and no time to waste,” said Mr. Fletcher.
He said the fresh resources could help protect people who risk being overlooked, while stressing that governments and other leaders must also act to clear the way for humanitarian work.
“Today’s new funding will help us get aid to people who might otherwise be left behind. But money alone won’t get us there: leaders must exercise political will to open access, remove obstacles and help us reach people whose lives are on the line.”
Funding for overlooked emergencies
Of the total announced, $150 million comes from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund, known as CERF. The fund is managed by OCHA and is designed to move rapidly when emergencies lack sufficient support from other sources.
Afghanistan, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Yemen will each receive $18 million from the allocation. These are among the places where humanitarian requirements remain particularly pressing and where operational access is central to the ability to deliver relief.
The broader package covers 12 underfunded crises. Five of them — Afghanistan, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen — are also included among 10 contexts in which Mr. Fletcher has sought urgent diplomatic engagement to improve access for aid operations.
Opening access in those settings could enable assistance to reach 11 million people. The point is practical as much as political: humanitarian supplies, health services, food support and other emergency aid have little value if they cannot be transported to the people who need them or delivered without obstruction.
Making assistance more inclusive
An additional $10 million has been reserved for people with disabilities across the same 12 crises. The funding is aimed at ensuring that humanitarian responses are accessible and that support is designed to work for people with disabilities rather than leaving them outside emergency programmes.
CERF is working with the UN Global Disability Fund, which will contribute up to $4 million through financing and technical assistance from its Inclusion Catalyst Hub. Part of that support will strengthen organizations led by people with disabilities at the local level and expand their role in shaping emergency responses.
This focus recognizes that barriers can multiply during crises. Displacement, damaged infrastructure, disrupted services and inaccessible information can make it even harder for people with disabilities to obtain aid. Building inclusion into relief efforts from the outset can help responders identify those barriers and adapt delivery methods to local needs.
A rapid-response fund with a global role
CERF is one of the UN’s quickest mechanisms for getting funding to humanitarian operations. Its grants for underfunded emergencies are informed by analysis of more than 100 humanitarian indicators, alongside broad consultation with operational partners.
That process is intended to direct limited resources toward crises where the gap between humanitarian need and available funding is especially severe. It also reflects a persistent problem in global aid: public attention and donor support are not distributed evenly, even when the consequences of conflict, displacement, hunger or other shocks remain profound.
Friday’s release brings CERF allocations in 2026 to $483 million. The latest disbursement underlines both the value of flexible emergency financing and the continuing shortfall faced by humanitarian responders in neglected settings.
Since its creation by the UN General Assembly in 2005, CERF has provided about $10.2 billion in assistance to hundreds of millions of people across more than 117 countries and territories. Its support has been made possible by 135 Member States and observers, as well as private donors and individual contributors.
The fund’s annual financing target is $1 billion. Reaching that goal would give humanitarian organizations greater capacity to respond quickly when a crisis is underfunded, but access remains the decisive factor in many of the hardest-hit places.
Diplomacy and access remain essential
The new allocation offers a measure of protection for communities confronting emergencies that risk slipping from view. Yet the UN’s message is that money must be matched by action on the ground: passage for relief personnel and supplies, fewer administrative barriers, and decisions by leaders that place civilian lives first.
For the 87 million people identified as facing the gravest crises this year, the effectiveness of humanitarian aid will depend on both parts of that equation. Funding can keep programmes operating, while access determines whether that assistance reaches the people whose survival may depend on it.
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