Notes from Archie Law, CEO of ActionAid Australia
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By the UN’s count, the East African drought has already left 2 million infants malnourished and 30,000 people dead. And without much-needed attention from the international community, the crisis is only getting worse.
In a new report, the UN increased its estimate of the number of people currently at risk of starvation in East Africa to 13 million, from nine million just two weeks ago.
Tags: appeal, drought, east africa, famine, fertile ground, hunger, Kenya
The United Nations officially declared a famine in parts of Somalia Wednesday amid the worst drought in east Africa in more than 50 years.
Under the UN’s five-stage classification system, the “famine” designation means that at least two people per 10,000 are dying everyday and there are less than 7.5 litres of water available per person per day.
In a region already hit hard by rising global food prices, the African drought has devastated domestic farming and intensified price spikes. According to the BBC, the drought has already affected more than 10 million people across the Horn of Africa, and has sent tens of thousands of Somalis fleeing to neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia.
With almost billion people going to bed hungry each night, the question of how we tackle hunger is one of the biggest facing the so-called aid and development community.
But what’s the answer?
At the 2009 G8 meeting in Italy, a group of the world’s richest nations pledged $22 billion in agricultural aid to help fight hunger and curb the threat of continuing food crises. These promises were very welcome, but how that money is spent is all important.
Tags: farming, gafsp, governance, rwanda
Meet Polly. She’s a smallholder farmer from Uganda working to promote sustainable agriculture and the status of women farmers in her country.
Next week, ActionAid Australia will welcome Polly for a two-week speaking tour for rural communities across New South Wales and Victoria.
Polly is scheduled to arrive in Sydney on 18 June, and will travel to Orange, Bellingen and Armidale before finishing her trip in Melbourne (no public events) at the end of the month. Read the rest of this entry »
With the G8 giving the Arab Spring top-billing at its annual meeting in Deauville, France last week, development experts are concerned that new aid commitments in Northern Africa and the Middle East will divert attention away from the resurgent global food crisis.
Ironically, those same food shortages may have been key motivators behind this year’s uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: archie law, Food Rights, g8, senegal
A recent Zambian short film titled ‘Condomise Zambia’ has shown that despite growing up in one of the world’s poorest countries, a little bit of youthful creativity can create a lot of joy.
The film was the winner of ActionAid’s international film competition held in Denmark, and was written in line with the overall theme ‘being young in a developing country’. This winning film told the story of Fred Tembo, who like millions of Zambian youths has an immense passion for soccer. Not satisfied with simply watching matches, Fred finds a creative way to make his own soccer ball and organises a local soccer match with other youths in his town.
Check out how Fred gets creative in his video below:
Tags: Child Poverty, human rights, zambia
For the first time in months the people of the Ivory Coast have seen a glimpse of peace and stability, after former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo was captured by French and UN forces on Monday. Gbagbo refused to step down after the results of the controversial presidential election last November recognised him as the election loser to Alassane Ouattara.
Gbagbo’s refusal to step down triggered a post-electoral crisis where violent conflicts between supporters of each side claimed more than 1000 lives and uprooted up to a million people. This civil violence and turmoil comes after close to a decade of civil war between northern and southern parts of the Ivory Coast, stemmed from ethnic tensions and discrimination.
While the country’s new leader Ouattara is promising this event will turn a painful page in his country’s troubled history, the Ivorian people have a long way to go before these recent events can become a distant memory. Issues such as longstanding ethnic divisions, years of economic stagnation and a worsening humanitarian crisis still need to be addressed.
A young Ivorian refugee in a queue for registration on the Liberian border
Tags: emergencies, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Refugees
Cricket fans across India this week are feeling on top of the world after their nation’s jubilant win in the 2011 cricket world cup. The win has reignited patriotism across India and instilled hope for many young Indian men who are following India’s boyhood dream of one day playing cricket for their country.
But while this event may have instilled hope into every Indian boy dreaming of becoming a national hero, the results of the 2011 Indian Census released last week has made it blatantly obvious that the Indian girlhood dream is being ignored.
Malika is one of a group of volunteers in ActionAid’s project in Salem, Tamil Nadu southern India who try to prevent female infanticide, run by partner Welfare Centre for women and children.
Tags: India, women's rights
Over the past few weeks the conflict in Libya has attracted a large amount of international attention, with a heated debate boiling around issues relating to human security and the international community’s responsibility to protect the people of Libya. The conflict, which is a result of anti-government protests, has caused violent demonstrations in hotspots across the country and resulted in more than 200,000 people to flee to the Libyan borders of Egypt and Tunisia.
Many of those who are fleeing have been subjected to unwarranted violence and discrimination during the turmoil, which has made the option of staying put impossible. These people are mostly migrant workers from neighbouring counties and sub-saharan Africa, and in most cases having endured a several year long journey to arrive as a migrant worker in Libya, the thought now having to leave their home is heartbreaking.
This situation has seen tens of thousands of people turning up to border refugee camps with no food or water, and critical injuries and illnesses. The UN, countries and aid organisations are doing their best to provide these camps with shelter, water, food, sanitation and medical assistance. ActionAid believes that this is the first and most critical priority for helping these people.
Any approach to tackling conflict must couple immediate relief provision with addressing the long term effects of the crisis.
A woman walks along a road with her belongings and baby on her back near the town of Kibati, Democratic Republic of Congo, in November 2008
Tags: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Libya, R2P, Refugees
International Women’s Day will be celebrated across the world this Tuesday 8th March, with this year marking the 100th anniversary of the event. In addition to celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future, this year’s event will have the specific focus on; Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women.
Maua discusses her school report with her mother outside their home in a rural village in Tanzania. The 'Transforming Education for Girls Project' is run by Maarifa ni Ufunguo in Tanzania, supported by ActionAid and funded by Comic Relief and the Tubney Charitable Trust.
Tags: Education, Tanzania, women's rights
