HOUSE OF THE WEEK
Three-storey Mayangone villa
MAYANGONE township is the setting for this three-storey villa with oodles of space and mainstream taste. The pillar- and balcony-heavy façade gives a strong indication of what lies inside- more
CERF grants $4 million to humanitarian agencies
(Volume 26, No. 507)
THE United Nations and humanitarian agencies operating in Myanmar will form a working group to decide how to allocate US$4 million of new funding, an official from the UN Information Centre in Yangon said last week.
The funding will be provided by the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
CERF announced on January 18 it was allocating $100 million dollars to boost humanitarian responses in 14 “neglected” emergencies around the world, including Myanmar.
“There will be a meeting between the UN and humanitarian agencies to discuss the allocation of funding,” said U Aye Win, the national information officer at the UN Information Centre, adding that the date of the meeting has not yet been decided.
He said the money would be allocated to organisations implementing programs in the most needy areas of the country.
The funding will be granted to UN humanitarian agencies, the International Organisation for Migration, and to partner organisations, including NGOs, to support humanitarian projects in the affected countries, a UN announcement said.
Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo received the largest allotments of emergency funding – $17 million and $16 million respectively – while Guinea receive the lowest grant, at $2 million.
The statement said decisions for a second round of funding will be announced in July.
CERF allocated $130 million to underfunded emergencies in 2009.
