International NGOs welcome extra funding for famine in East Africa

The Government has backed the public’s overwhelming response to the famine in East Africa, and increased funding to New Zealand’s international NGOs working in the region to relieve the devastating food crisis.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Gerry Brownlee announced an extra $1.85 million to be provided to New Zealand non-government organisations for famine prevention and response efforts, building on $1.15 million provided earlier in the year.

“The Government has seen the compelling need for assistance and responded. The extra support will help us to continue to support life-saving activities in these countries,” says Mark Mitchell, the Chair of the humanitarian network of international NGOs in the Council for International Development.

“The public have been overwhelmingly generous. Collectively as a sector, we set a fundraising goal of $1.6 million by year’s end. Only six months into 2017, Kiwis have already given $2.3 million, blowing our most optimistic targets out of the water.”

25 million people across East Africa are in still in desperate need of assistance, including in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda. At the heart of the crisis is South Sudan, a country where violent civil war and severe drought have claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced over 3.5 million people.

Earlier in the year, a coalition of New Zealand’s leading aid agencies came together to save lives across the region, using public donations to deliver vital assistance to tens of thousands.

Responding agencies include ADRA, Caritas, CWS, World Vision, UNICEF NZ, ChildFund, Save the Children, Oxfam and Tearfund. “We would like to thank the Government for being prepared to back the public’s generosity, and increase funding to help us continue our work in these countries,” says Mark Mitchell.

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