Meeting real needs: a major change for donors to the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2006

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Summary

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is at a critical point in its history. While the forthcoming elections offer the country new opportunities, it is also facing rising tensions, and at least 42 million people still endure appalling poverty and suffering.

The DRC Humanitarian Action Plan (HAP) prepared by the UN represents a major change in humanitarian appeals, with a focus on reflecting needs more accurately. The request for almost $700m in humanitarian aid – three times the amount sought for last year – is the subject of the donor conference taking place in Brussels on 13 February 2006. The size of the appeal is the result of a more comprehensive needs assessment, based on the full participation of all humanitarian actors in the DRC (field-based donors, UN agencies, and the NGO community), and coverage of the whole country rather than specific regions.

Oxfam calls on donors not to betray the people of the DRC or block the momentum behind this plan with a routine lukewarm response. Instead, they must rise to the challenge of meeting real needs in the DRC, which is at a critical point of both crisis and transition.

Aside from their important bilateral contributions, donors should respond to the HAP according to their 'fair share', as determined by their gross national income (GNI) – see Annex 1. This will require even existing donors with a good track record in 2005 (Belgium, Sweden, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Ireland, and Finland) to increase their 2005 contributions by at least 100 per cent, given the threefold increase in the appeal.

Hitherto small or non-traditional donors to the DRC (such as Australia, Austria, Greece, Spain, New Zealand, Portugal, Denmark, and Luxembourg), all of whom gave below their fair share in 2005, should increase contributions by a greater magnitude, to help take on the burden of one of the greatest tasks facing the humanitarian community today. Of those donors who have given more regular or sizeable contributions and yet still give well below their fair share, Oxfam highlights six countries in particular – the USA, Japan, Germany, UK, France, and Italy – all of whom should increase their contributions to at least reach their 'fair share' in the 2006 HAP, requiring contributions to increase by two- to five-fold. Finally, multilateral donors who fall outside the GNI-based fair-share analysis are also urged to increase contributions, including the EU which has decreased ECHO and UN appeal funding relative to 2004.

Date of original publication: February 2006