Oxfam seeks support for first responders

The country Director for Oxfam in Uganda, Mr Francis Shanty Odokorach. Photo/ Eve Muganga  

Oxfam has called on the government and other humanitarian players to support local first responders during crises.

The call by the country Director for Oxfam in Uganda, Mr Francis Shanty Odokorach came during the closure of a five-year Empowering Local and National Humanitarian Actors (ELNHA) project held on Thursday at Mestile hotel in Kampala.

“Uganda has faced frequent and multiple humanitarian crises, including refugee influxes, disease outbreaks and climate-induced disasters like floods. The country continues to host one of the largest numbers of refugees and asylum seekers in the world due to government’s open-door policy. However, the resources are still less than needed and hence the call for more support,” he said.

He added that the frequency of disasters requires building resilience and capacity to deal with them since humanitarian organisation show the need for local and national support since they are the first responders during crisis.

 The state minister for disaster, Mr Musa Ecweru challenged NGOs to ensure transparency in the execution of their activities.

“The tax payers’ resources that we (government) disburse to the population are so important to NGOs to remain transparent with the limited resources that come to their charge. For example, what we are closing today is a support of resources from tax payers from Europe that was channeled through Oxfam Uganda which Oxfam was kind to extend to them for developing their capacity. So I want to insist that transparency must at all-time be reciprocal,” he said.

The project focused on strengthening and equipping the capacity of local actors to participate in humanitarian response in the regions of west Nile, Acholi and Karamoja and became a global flagship  project promoting localization and humanitarian sector change.