OCHA donor group headed by KSA holds 6th meeting in Riyadh

OCHA Donor Support Group headed by KSA holds 6th meeting in Riyadh. (Supplied)

• Representatives from 30 donor countries and a team of senior officials from OCHA attended the meeting
• The meeting also reviewed the current state of global humanitarian affairs, OCHA’s 2023 budget, priorities, humanitarian field experiences

RIYADH: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ Donor Support Group held its sixth meeting of experts in Riyadh, the final meeting to be held under the Kingdom’s presidency.
Representatives from 30 donor countries and a team of senior officials from OCHA attended the meeting, which was chaired by Dr. Aqeel bin Juman Al-Ghamdi, head of the group representing the Kingdom and assistant supervisor general of the King Salman Humanitarian Relief Center.
“The significance of this meeting comes from the importance of the Kingdom’s presence at the head of humanitarian work,” Al-Ghamdi said.
The meeting agenda included recent developments in humanitarian work, aid funding gaps, and the significant increase in humanitarian needs worldwide because of emergencies such as the recent earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria.
The meeting also reviewed the current state of global humanitarian affairs, OCHA’s 2023 budget, priorities, humanitarian field experiences, and efforts toward donor diversification and resource mobilization.
“All that has been collected so far is approximately 16 percent or 20 percent of the humanitarian need this year,” said Al-Ghamdi.
During the meeting, donor countries stressed the necessity of implementing reforms to the humanitarian program cycle and urged OCHA to make necessary preparations for carrying out the reform processes with the involvement of both local aid recipients and humanitarian actors.
Al-Ghamdi said the challenges facing humanitarian work include the increased number of refugees resulting from disasters, the need for financing, and access of humanitarian aid to conflict areas.
“Relief workers and humanitarian work were affected by some militias and some parties to the conflict, resulting in the lack of aid reaching those in need,” he added.
During the meeting, Al-Ghamdi handed over the presidency of the OCHA Donor Support Group to Luxembourg, which will head the meetings in 2023-2024.