Underfunding

As we head into the second half of 2024, UNHCR is dangerously short of funds to carry out the activities that it is mandated to perform. The estimated funds available to UNHCR currently cover only 35% of its budget. More ominously, the flexible funding contained within that total was $835 million, 18% less from a year earlier (see below).  

As of the beginning of July 2024, UNHCR had received $425 million less in new voluntary contributions compared to the same period in 2023. By the end of 2023, the funding gap was $5.213 billion, obliging UNHCR to temper its ambitions for potentially life-changing activities for millions of people. It is very possible that this funding gap, which was almost 48% of UNHCR’s annual budget in 2023, will grow even wider in 2024. This would be disastrous for people who, through no fault of their own, have been forced to flee. The number of forcibly displaced and stateless people increased 6% between the end of 2022 and the end of 2023, and with each successive year of underfunding, the negative impact on them keeps accruing. 

Another cause for concern comes from an analysis of per capita funding. Forced displacement has expanded hugely since 2010 and funding for UNHCR has not kept up. Since 2013, when funding averaged $72 for every forcibly displaced or stateless person, the numbers of people in need have grown at a faster rate than the increase in funding or the rate of solutions. In 2023, per capita funding for UNHCR reached a new low of $47, 19% below the 10-year average. On current trends, this could fall to $39 per head in 2024.  

Underfunding and priority activities for response 

Over the course of the year, as funding comes in, UNHCR’s allocation to some Outcome Areas generally increases. Within the current funding outlook, UNHCR has continued to prioritize protection and life-saving assistance, though activity levels for these core protection and life-saving activities will be lower this year than they were last year.  

The operations in this report have indicated as a priority for urgent funding primarily Outcome Areas that focus on urgent humanitarian assistance and response: activities such as cash or basic needs, the provision of shelter, and the delivery of medical assistance. These are activities coming through as absolute priorities in operations such as Bangladesh, DRC, Jordan, Lebanon, or Yemen. Activities under these Outcomes constitute the lion’s share of activities in this report in need of urgent injections of funding.  

But operations have also indicated core protection activities such as access to territory, registration and documentation, for example in the Sudan response; or the need for protection or border monitoring in the Sahel. It includes as well urgent activities to combat gender-based violence in Afghanistan, or strengthen child protection in Colombia. Priorities also cover activities related to inclusion or solutions, such as community engagement, and education. 

To a large extent, then, this underfunded report reflects the key priorities that UNHCR has set itself in what is a continually strained financial environment. That is: to prioritize core protection and life-saving assistance, which is notable through the focus on Outcome Areas that deliver lifesaving assistance and core protection; and maximize resources for operational needs, which can be seen through the lens of the amount of flexible funding these operations are receiving (see below).  

For example, the Outcome Area on Access to territory, registration and documentation remained at the same level of 49%, while Status determination related outcome is slightly lower at 54% (56% in 2023). The Outcome Area for Policy and law is prioritized at 49%. While in comparison to other outcomes this constitutes a higher prioritization, it is far lower than last year, where it was at 58% prioritization. Even more worrying, assistance activities are prioritized below minimum levels, due to reduced funding. For example, the Outcome Area for shelter is at 27% this year – compared to 46% previously, while that for Well-being and basic needs is at 31% - compared to 45% in 2023.