Grants and Contributions

Colonel Belcher Remembrance Day Ceremony

Support aboriginal communities in becoming successful participants in commercial fisheries and aquaculture

Canada's Fisheries Fund will transform and drive innovation in the fish and seafood sector in Canada with a focus on developing the sector to better meet growing market demands for sustainably sourced, high-quality fish and seafood products.

March 2020 – The humanitarian situation in Myanmar is characterized by a complex combination of vulnerability to armed conflict, inter-communal tension, protracted displacement and food insecurity. It is estimated that 985,000 crisis-affected people are in need of humanitarian assistance this year, including more than 273,000 displaced people (of which 69% are women and children) who remain in camps or camp-like settings across the country.

With GAC’s support, Canadian Lutheran World Relief and its local partner, Lutheran World Federation Myanmar, are providing clean drinking water, non-food items and shelter to internally displaced people and host communities in Central Rakhine State, Myanmar. The project is also addressing issues of protection and social cohesion. Project activities include: (1) improving rainwater harvesting ponds and installing hand pumps; (2) distributing non-food items to persons with disabilities, elderly people, children without caregivers and single-headed households; (3) re-constructing longhouses in a safer, more dignified and gender-responsive manner; (4) providing training on leadership and rights-based empowerment to women, adolescent girls and girls; and (5) conducting awareness raising sessions on sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender-based violence.

March 2020 - Uganda hosts the largest number of refugees in Africa, and the third largest in the world, close to 1.4 million people, primarily from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Most of the refugees are women and children, who are almost wholly reliant on international assistance to meet their basic needs. Although gaps exist across all sectors of the humanitarian response, protection is particularly critical to address needs arising from sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) experienced while fleeing conflict, and often continuing in the refugee settlements.

With GAC’s support, Canadian Lutheran World Relief is providing access to life-saving water and sanitation services and increased livelihoods opportunities for an estimated 31,000 South Sudanese refugees living in Uganda’s Lamwo district. Project activities include: (1) providing training and inputs to improve livelihoods opportunities; (2) establishing facilities and services to reduce the risk of SGBV; and (3) increasing access to safe water and sanitation facilities.

March 2020 - An estimated 7.5 million people across South Sudan are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection across the country as a result of armed conflict, food insecurity, malnutrition, economic decline and disease. Approximately 1.5 million people are internally displaced within South Sudan and almost 2.2 million South Sudanese have sought protection in neighbouring countries. An estimated 6.4 million people are currently severely food insecure, with malnutrition rates over emergency thresholds. Outbreaks of communicable diseases have strained an already overwhelmed health system. Humanitarian access remains restricted in many areas and large numbers of people are accessible only by air drops.

With GAC’s support, the South Sudan Common Humanitarian Fund is providing timely allocations to national and international NGOs and United Nations agencies to meet critical humanitarian needs of people throughout the country. The Fund is managed by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Support to the Fund is helping to achieve its objectives, including: (1) promoting early action and response to reduce loss of life; (2) enhancing response to time-critical humanitarian requirements; and (3) strengthening core elements of humanitarian response in underfunded crises.

March 2020 - An estimated 9.3 million people across Sudan are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection across the country as a result of armed conflict, food insecurity, malnutrition, economic decline and disease. Approximately 1.9 million people are internally displaced within Sudan and almost 1.1 million refugees, asylum seekers and migrants from CAR, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Syria are present in the country. An estimated 6.2 million people are currently severely food insecure, exacerbating already high levels of malnutrition. Outbreaks of communicable diseases have strained an already overwhelmed health system.

With GAC’s support, the Sudan Humanitarian Fund is providing timely allocations to national and international NGOs and United Nations agencies to meet critical humanitarian needs of people throughout the country. The Fund is managed by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Support to the Fund is helping to achieve its objectives, including: (1) promoting early action and response to reduce loss of life; (2) enhancing response to time-critical humanitarian requirements; and (3) strengthening core elements of humanitarian response in underfunded crises.

March 2020 - After a brief period of calm in 2016, the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) started to deteriorate in 2017. This has continued through late 2019, where a resurgence of direct confrontations between armed actors was observed. This, combined with continued insecurity, led to suspensions of movements of humanitarian actors, impacting the humanitarian response. CAR is one of the most dangerous contexts in the world for humanitarian workers. The crisis in CAR is very much a protection crisis, with violence against civilians, particularly women and girls, and SGBV cases commonplace. Approximately 35% of the population is food insecure and only 50% of the population has access to clean water. Regular violence across the country that is controlled by armed groups continues to exacerbate displacement; currently, over one quarter of the country's population is displaced, either internally (600,100) or as refugees in neighbouring countries (592,000).

GAC and other donors are providing funding to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for the Central African Republic Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF). This Fund provides timely allocations to national and international NGOs as well as UN agencies to address some of the most critical humanitarian needs in CAR. The CHF’s main objectives include: (1) supporting timely responses to sudden crises and critical gaps in humanitarian operations; (2) supporting the transportation of humanitarian supplies and personnel as well as improved communications and storage capacity; and (3) capacity-building for national non-governmental organizations, equipping them with strengthened financial and management tools to implement humanitarian responses.

March 2020 - The impact of three decades of conflict and insecurity, exacerbated by chronic drought and other natural disasters, has left Somalia facing widespread food insecurity, acute malnutrition, and population displacement. In 2020, 5.3 million people in Somalia (an estimated 42% of the population) are expected to require humanitarian assistance. At least 1.4 million Somalis, primarily women and children, are facing acute malnutrition and 2.6 million are now internally displaced. While the political situation in Somalia has been gradually improving, households continue to face deeply entrenched needs and remain vulnerable to sudden shocks.

With the support of GAC and other donors to the Somalia Humanitarian Fund, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is providing funding to United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations to respond to newly emerging crises and shifting/deteriorating humanitarian situations. Project activities include: (1) supporting life-saving activities, such as shelter, healthcare and protection, by filling critical funding gaps; (2) promoting needs-based assistance in accordance with humanitarian principles; (3) strengthening the coordination of humanitarian assistance; (4) improving the relevance and coherence of humanitarian response by strategically funding priorities as identified under the Humanitarian Response Plan; and (5) expanding the delivery of humanitarian assistance in hard-to-reach areas of the country by partnering with local and international non-governmental organizations.

March 2020 – In response to the COVID19 global pandemic, the United Nations launched the Global Humanitarian Response Plan (GHRP) on 25 March 2020. The GHRP seeks to respond to the direct public health and immediate humanitarian consequences of the pandemic. It has three strategic priorities: 1) containing the spread of the pandemic; 2) decreasing the deterioration of human assets and rights, social cohesion and livelihoods; and 3) protecting, assisting and advocating for refugees, internally displaced people, migrants and host communities particularly vulnerable to the pandemic.

The Global Humanitarian Response Plan is a joint and collective effort among all stakeholders, facilitated at the global level by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). As leader of the Inter-agency Steering Committee, OCHA works to oversee the global level coordination, and liaise with other stakeholders, such as the UN Crisis Management Team, as needed.

OCHA’s primary mandate is to oversee the coordination of international humanitarian responses, in partnership with national and international actors, in order to achieve more coherent and effective humanitarian action. This grant represents Canada’s support to OCHA in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.

With the support of Canada and other donors, OCHA fulfills its mandate by: (1) strengthening humanitarian leadership; (2) establishing and overseeing coordination systems; (3) monitoring and reporting on humanitarian situations; (4) advocating on behalf of affected people; (5) supporting the assessment and prioritization of humanitarian needs and strategic planning; (6) promoting emergency preparedness; and (7) mobilizing funding for humanitarian assistance.