Border needs

Populations in Guinea's refugee-hosting and war-affected areas near the border with Sierra Leone and Liberia remain vulnerable and in need of aid.

People are suffering worsening poverty in these areas, which have hosted hundreds of thousands of refugees for more than 10 years.

This is mostly due to the volatile security situation linked to the alleged presence of armed militants.

Communities hosting IDPs, also do not benefit adequately from rehabilitation activities within post-crisis recovery programmes due to insufficient resources.

Yet Guinea has provided a safe-haven for refugees fleeing conflict in four of its neighbours, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire.

Short-term response

Based on lessons learned, the country team has decided to focus interventions for the CAP 2004 on the following primary short-term challenges:

• Ensuring adequate protection and material assistance to all groups of concern to the humanitarian community, particularly the most vulnerable
• Using international assistance to upgrade existing resources to ensure stronger emergency humanitarian management capacity
• Promoting self-sufficiency among all vulnerable groups and reducing dependency on international aid
• Preparing the ground for activities that aim at facilitating the transition from relief to development
• Ensuring proper advocacy for humanitarian causes and supporting culture-of-peace initiatives

In the longer term, the humanitarian community in Guinea will need to foster greater co-ordination with development agencies to ensure that humanitarian aid is delivered in a way that supports self-sufficiency activities and post-crisis programmes.

In addition, building capacity in the area of managing complex emergencies and natural disasters will remain a key priority.

Request

The UN Country Team in Guinea therefore appeals for a total of US$ 38,448,575.

Funding Requirements in 2004
(US$)