Donors routing emergency aid thru' NGOs, UN bodies

---

Shakhawat Hossain
The donor countries and agencies excepting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Islamic Development Bank (IDB) are routing their emergency assistance to the flood affected people through the non-government organisations (NGOs) and the UN bodies.
They have selected a number of NGOs and also the United Nations (UN) organisations operating in Bangladesh to provide their emergency flood assistance programme as flood water has started to recede from the flood affected areas.
Donor agencies represented in the local consultative group (LCG) have pledged to provide flood assistance worth more than US$ 7.0 million and intimated the Economic Relations Division (ERD) about their decision, source added.
The flood-related assistance from the western donor agencies and countries is likely to go up as the LGC will meet the ERD officials next Sunday to review the extent of damage caused by the flood, said a senior ministry official.
This will be the second meeting between donors and the government. Different ministries including that of food and disaster management are expected to present the report on flood damage, seeking assistances at the meeting.
Among the donors, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) pledged to provide relief worth $1,18,350 to be distributed though WFP and BRAC. The Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK government will distribute relief worth $ 3.8 million through the UNDP, sources said.
Saudi Arabia, which is providing nearly 90 per cent of the so far committed emergency flood assistance among the donor countries and agencies, has already sent a substantial amount of relief goods to the government.
The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has made commitment to provide $ 280,000 to the government.