Source: http://reliefweb.int/node/442513
Trocaire, an Irish non-governmental organization (NGO) development agency, has announced its intentions to spend €7.5m in response to the east Africa food crisis in 2011, after donations from the Irish public surpassed the €5m mark. With the lives of 12.4 million people in the region in danger, Trocaire will use money from the Irish public to considerably increase food distribution over the coming weeks as the emergency deepens.
Trocaire’s East Africa Emergency Appeal, which is tackling famine and extreme food shortages in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, has so far received a total of €5.8m in donation. It has set an overall budget of €7.5m for emergency relief until the end of the year.
“Our projects in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia are targeting 450,000 people,” said Trocaire Director, Justin Kilcullen. “That is 450,000 people that will be kept alive because of donations from the Irish public. Once again, Irish people have responded to a major emergency with generosity and empathy. I can assure them that every cent donated to this emergency appeal goes directly on life-saving supplies and restoring people’s lives.”
With donations from the public, Trocaire intends to up-scale food, water, health and livelihoods programs in the region. Health clinics supported by Trócaire in southern Somalia, one of which was last month visited by Mary Robinson, will be expanded over the coming days to treat 4,000 people each month.
In the coming days Trocaire is expanding the food and water voucher programme that has so far enabled 15,000 Somali people to get access to food and water over recent weeks. 15,000 people are currently being registered, which will double the number of people benefited from the scheme.
As far as providing assistance to pregnant women is concerned, Trocaire-trained midwives are continuing to deliver safe births in Southern Somalia. Trocaire’s birth attendants are delivering over 300 children each month, in regions where there are no doctors.
A total of 249,000 people in Kenya and Ethiopia are participating in cash and food for work activities to meet their immediate food and nutrition requirements while at the same time building assets to protect their livelihoods.
Moreover, Trócaire in cooperation with its partners has already started buying livestock from pastoralists to provide a cash injection to the affected households so that they could buy food. This has also paved the way for reducing the stress and competition for the scarce pasture and water resources. Beginning September, an additional 36,000 people will be registered for food and cash vouchers interventions.
Under the drought recovery program Trócaire and partners have planned to distribute drought tolerant seeds to more than 10,000 households in preparation for the October – December rains.