Uganda Red Cross has said it will need at least shs177 billion to fund its humanitarian activities next year.
Speaking during the launch of the humanitarian fund at Kampala Serena Hotel, Secretary General of the Uganda Red Cross Society, Robert Kwesiga said the shs177 billion will cater for first aid and ambulance services, blood donor recruitment and mobilization, disaster preparedness and response, pandemics and epidemics, water and sanitation, keep girls in school, youth and women empowerment as well as sustainability climate and environment action.
Humanitarian fund
At the fund, the Uganda Red Cross Society launched a humanitarian fund to support its activities.
According to Kwesiga with an increase in humanitarian crises not only in Uganda but the world at large, there is need for the country to have funds to fund these emergencies, other than always waiting for donors who might in many cases not come in time.
"Humanitarian crises are on the increase allover the world and this situation is only getting complicated. For example, this year alone, the Uganda Red Cross Society has responded to 18 major disasters in the country. Pandemics and epidemics are on THE increase destroying lives and livelihoods. As Red Cross, we are saying, we can't do business as usual, we have to change the way we engage," Kwesiga said.
"Through this, we are creating a humanitarian response fund which we can always use to prepare, respond but also save lives and property."
He explained that with a humanitarian fund in place, the country can always prepare and respond to crises without waiting for donor funding which he said sometimes comes with strings attached to it.
"This humanitarian fund is a game changer. There are meagre funds to enable us do all the humanitarian work but we can collectively make sure the funds are there."
Management of the fund
During the launch at Kampala Serena Hotel, Kwesiga unveiled a team of five board of trustees headed by Elly Karuhanga, former NSSF board chairman, Dr.Peter Kimbowa, Ecobank managing director, Grace Muliisa, Knight Frank's Judy Rugasira and Zhang Hao, the chairman of Zhang group of companies.
Also, accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was announced as the fund manager.
"We want to ensure not only red cross leadership and management are the ones managing the humanitarian fund. We have this team of independent trustees who have accepted to manage the fund. They know business but are also people of high integrity and reputation," Kwesiga said.
He said that Ugandans can contribute to the humanitarian fund through the bank or through mobile money, adding that the public can also contribute to Red Cross work by becoming volunteers, adding that there are currently 500,000 volunteers but at least four million are needed.
The Uganda Red Cross Secretary General said so far there is shs215 million in cash and shs300 million pledged by the Uganda Insurers Association on the humanitarian fund's account.
Speaking at the same function, the Prime Minister, Robinah Nabbanja hailed Uganda Red Cross for being at the forefront of giving humanitarian support to those in need.
"Today we are commemorating the extraordinary legacy of compassion, resilience and unwavering commitment to save lives that URCS has upheld in our country. For over six decades Uganda Red Cross has stood out as a beacon of hope reaching out to the most vulnerable persons to provide critical services during emergencies and building resilient communities. We applaud you for this," Nabbanja said in a speech read for her by the Minister for Local Government, Raphael Magyezi.
She said the humanitarian fund will help the country to mobilise resources swiftly to respond to emergencies, strengthen disaster preparedness and early warning systems and support vulnerable persons in recovering and building their lives.
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The Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Eng. Hilary Onek said government response efforts are always frustrated by budget constraints, noting that only 3% of Uganda's budget goes towards this aspect
"We have pleaded with parliament and cabinet to see that we have something called a budget so that we can plan our operations in the country. We know all the causes of disasters and we have gone ahead to map out areas prone and digitized and we want to use Artificial Intelligence to predict disasters but we are limited by funds," Onek said.
He said there has also been tremendous drop-in international support towards humanitarian activities which makes it difficult for government to respond to disasters in time.
