“The famine in Niger could have been prevented if the United Nations had a reserve fund to jump-start humanitarian aid, a senior UN official has said.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA, has a fund of $50,000 to quickly respond to emergencies, but only for loans, which must be repaid.
Instead, it wants $500,000 for grants to rapidly launch emergency relief campaigns as soon as warning signs emerge, said Jan Egeland, head of OCHA.” [Full Story]