A brief released this week by the UN children’s agency reports that funding for humanitarian work in northern Uganda and Karamoja is “critically low.” Donors have disbursed only 21% of the funds needed to fulfill the 2008 UN humanitarian appeal for Uganda, and these funds are spread unevenly over different sectors of humanitarian aid. Not one dollar has come through for UNICEF’s emergency non-food distribution, HIV/AIDS and water and sanitation projects in northern Uganda and Karamoja. The failure of international donors to respond adequately to the appeal is widening the gap between crisis and recovery. Displaced persons in Acholi, 80% of whom are women and children, are going home at slow rates in part due to a “stark lack of basic infrastructure and social services in areas of return.” Read the full brief here.