South Asia Region Appeal
Humanitarian Action for Children
UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children appeal helps support the agency’s work as it provides conflict- and disaster-affected children with access to water, sanitation, nutrition, education, health and protection services. Return to main appeal page.
Appeal highlights
- Approximately 80 million people, including more than 35 million children, are projected to need humanitarian assistance in South Asia in 2024 due to sudden-onset, cyclical and protracted emergencies, including natural disasters, disease outbreaks and human-caused crises.
- UNICEF will support life-saving humanitarian interventions through multisectoral responses that encompass health, nutrition, education, WASH, child protection and shock-responsive social protection. These intervention areas will be prioritized to alleviate the suffering of crisis-affected children and families. Regional surge support to countries will be provided when required.
- UNICEF will support preparedness and proactive investments in country system strengthening in line with the regional disaster risk reduction strategy by using a multi-hazard focus, emphasizing child-centred disaster risk reduction and anticipatory action.
- UNICEF requires $37.7 million to support humanitarian action throughout the region. This includes $25.3 million to address the humanitarian needs of 5.8 million people in Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka and $12.4 million for the South Asia Regional Office to support preparedness for recurrent emergencies, response to emerging crises and technical support for cross-cutting issues.
Key statistics
18.6 million people in need of health assistance
17.4 million people in need of nutrition assistance
1.5 million children in need of protection services
6.1 million children in need of education support
17.9 million people in need of WASH support
Funding requirements for 2024
Regional needs and strategy
Humanitarian needs
South Asia is home to more than 625 million children, many of whom are at risk of exposure to sudden-onset and protracted emergencies including floods, cyclones, earthquakes, droughts and public health emergencies, as well as economic crises, political turmoil and malnutrition. In 2023, more than 55 million children in South Asia required humanitarian assistance. These emergencies do not respect boundaries and often requiring cross-border, multisectoral responses.
Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan continue to face significant humanitarian crises. The situation in Afghanistan is protracted and complex, driven by political and economic crises, natural disasters and disease outbreaks. Bangladesh faces multiple natural disasters each year while also hosting nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char, individuals who require sustained humanitarian support. Pakistan is grappling with various humanitarian challenges, including extreme flooding and drought, high malnutrition and the continued hosting of 3.7 million Afghan nationals.
The remaining countries in the region also face natural hazards that frequently lead to associated humanitarian needs. In India, climate change and environmental degradation are leading to unprecedented disasters; approximately 6 million children are affected by weather- and climate-related calamities every year. In Nepal, more than 500 such incidents occur every year, and the country, which sits in one of the world’s most seismically active zones, is also prone to mega-earthquakes. In Sri Lanka, floods and droughts a re impacting the ability of people who are already vulnerable to recover following the economic crisis there. While there are no active emergencies in Bhutan and Maldives, Maldives faces risks of rising sea levels and associated inundation, while Bhutan, like Nepal, is in one of the most seismically active zones of the Himalayan belt and is at risk for a major earthquake.
The increasing frequency and intensity of disasters pose critical threats to the well-being of 17.7 million people, including 6.5 million children, in Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
UNICEF’s strategy
The South Asia Regional Office will prioritize life-saving humanitarian responses to new, protracted and cyclical emergencies. Multisectoral responses remain a priority to alleviate the suffering of crisis-affected children and families. The Regional Office will support all countries by ensuring high-quality and effective humanitarian responses for children, whether remotely or through in-person deployments of surge staff. It will invest in the capacity of country and regional surge roster staff through Emergency Preparedness and Response trainings.
In a region prone to diverse natural hazards, preparedness and proactive investment in systems strengthening are essential to ensure country preparedness and shock-responsive systems are in place. The disaster risk reduction strategy in South Asia uses a multi-hazard focus; it emphasizes child-centred disaster risk reduction and ensures anticipatory action. The Regional Office will work with country offices and Governments to build on partnerships with national disaster management authorities to enhance resilience to current and future climate-related shocks.
In line with Grand Bargain commitments, UNICEF will build the capacity of country offices to implement humanitarian cash transfers for social protection. The Regional Office will also provide technical support to meet minimum preparedness requirements, while identifying opportunities to enhance existing government shock-responsive social protection systems. In addition, country offices will receive support to enhance accountability to affected populations by integrating it into existing risk communication and community engagement structures.
UNICEF country offices in Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka will collaborate with Governments to monitor risks and trends and strengthen and integrate preparedness and response mechanisms into national and subnational systems. UNICEF will engage with relevant authorities, organizations and communities, including young people, to ensure humanitarian programmes are linked to development programmes. Country offices in Bhutan and Maldives will invest in preparedness for future natural disasters. Those in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka will focus on linking the response to natural and human-caused disasters to system strengthening and sustainable recovery.
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Highlights
Humanitarian Action is at the core of UNICEF’s mandate to realize the rights of every child. This edition of Humanitarian Action for Children – UNICEF’s annual humanitarian fundraising appeal – describes the ongoing crises affecting children in South Asia; the strategies that we are using to respond to these situations; and the donor support that is essential in this response.