With regard to the scale and speed of the response, Oxfam’s analysis reveals that late and insufficient donor contributions prevented humanitarian agencies from responding on a scale that would have met the actual needs of affected communities. Oxfam, for example, had to dramatically revise its initial response plan after failing to receive sufficient donor funding, and was thereby forced to exclude 30,000 families (or more than 200,000 people) from receiving emergency water, sanitation and non-food items during the first three months of the response. Using various operational examples, this paper demonstrates that an overall lack of early funding for the Pakistan crisis resulted in fewer people receiving emergency assistance, and for a limited range of needs. An eventual increase of donor funds to the Pakistan Humanitarian Response Plan and other emergency activities reflected a gradual acknowledgement on the part of donors of the scale of humanitarian needs created by Pakistan’s displacement crisis.
