Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 14 November 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence

Global Humanitarian Response: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Mr. Ramesh Rajasingham:

In Afghanistan our funding coverage now is approximately 33%. It is more or less average for the situation but it is still very low because the average is very low. There are 29 million people in need and we are targeting 21 million of them, which means the vast majority of the population is vulnerable.

We have good capacity on the ground in Afghanistan. We have good access to the population. There are the restrictions, however, that have been imposed by the de facto authority there on women. We have different levels of success in supporting women and girls throughout the country depending on the provinces they are in and depending on the programmes. We are making all efforts to find ways to reach them. We have to be inventive and innovative but we cannot give up on them.