Belgium | Global Focus

Belgium ranks among UNHCR’s top ten donors providing multi-year funding.

Belgium ranks among UNHCR’s top ten donors providing multi-year funding. As a member of UNHCR’s Advisory Committee and a founding member of the governing Executive Committee (ExCom) since 1959, Belgium’s commitment to efficiency, change, and improvement of UNHCR and the humanitarian system, focuses on the effective delivery of help to those in need. As Chair of the ExCom in 2020, Belgium adheres to the principles of the Grand Bargain, including increasing the transparency and predictability of humanitarian aid, in line with UNHCR’s priorities.

Belgium provides stable and predictable financial support to UNHCR and is a key strategic ally in the work of humanitarian assistance and solutions. With nearly half of its overall contribution unearmarked, Belgium’s flexible funding means UNHCR can respond to the most urgent needs of people displaced from their homes, in times of crises. Flexible and predictable funding is also essential to protracted situations which are often under-resourced, such as those in Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, and Lebanon. Belgium is a key partner and a strong supporter of innovation in the humanitarian sector, including through its support to UNHCR’s Innovation Fund 2.0, and for its support to cash-based interventions (CBIs) as a way of effectively delivering assistance.

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Twins Yazan and Razan (8) are refugees from Syria. Their family relies on UNHCR cash assistance to make ends meet.

Most refugees live in environments where they have access to the same markets and services as local communities. Providing refugees with cash enables them to fulfil their needs in a dignified manner and contributes to the local economy. Funds from Belgium help to support vulnerable Syrian refugees and internally displaced people through CBIs.

©UNHCR/ Michael Muller

“It was difficult in our previous shelter made of plastic sheeting. It felt like a dream when UNHCR helped us get this house.”

Bébé Natori, a 38-year-old mother of seven, left the Lushebere camp for internally displaced people shortly before it was closed by Congolese authorities. Arriving in the village of Kitsule, Bébé and her husband were able to build a small house and work on a plot of land after receiving a cash grant and farming materials from UNHCR. Donors like Belgium ensure UNHCR can continue to support displaced people and refugees in the DRC.

©UNHCR/ Ley Uwera

UNHCR partner staff provide vaccines to newly arrived Syrian refugees in Bardarash refugee camp.

At the end of 2019, Bardarash camp in Iraq hosted over 11,600 Syrian refugees fleeing from northeast Syria. When emergencies strike, UNHCR has to mobilise quickly to respond to the urgent needs of displaced families. Unearmarked funding makes this possible.

©UNHCR/ Firas Al-Khateeb

"I feel happy. You’re just comfortable when you are inside. I feel nice."

Florence, a refugee from South Sudan, lived in a tent for two years before building her permanent home in Kalobeyei settlement, Kenya, through UNHCR’s Cash for Shelter project. For women like Florence, this reduces her dependency on humanitarian assistance, and means she has a safe place to live. In 2019 the operation in Kenya utilized more than $22 million of unearmarked funds, ensuring projects could continue.

“When the war broke out, we weren’t safe anymore. Fortunately, I was able to join my husband in Belgium where I applied for asylum.”

Nareman will not let the loss of her homeland Syria get the better of her. Since being given asylum and resettled in Belgium in 2017, she has learned Dutch and relaunched her career at the radio. Through its resettlement program, from 2013 to 2019, Belgium has worked with UNHCR to resettle over 3,000 refugees.

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