“The Committee bill takes some good steps to improve emergency food aid, such as expanding pre-positioning of commodities in areas of potential need, but it diminishes support for nonemergency food aid programs that improve the ability of poor communities to meet their own needs. Restoring funding for those developmental programs and tweaking some of the new provisions to emphasize local capacity building is critical,” said Dave Evans, President of Food for the Hungry and Chair of the Alliance.

Mr. Evans continued, “It’s troubling that the Committee bill would authorize $10 million a year for a new program to review and coordinate ‘resiliency’ programs in the Horn of Africa; yet the bill severely limits and cuts the very programs that are actually building resiliency – particularly the Food for Peace Title II nonemergency programs.”

Food for Peace (PL 480) Title II Development Programs

Food for Peace emphasizes the importance of using food aid to promote food security in areas where people regularly suffer from hunger and children are highly malnourished. Under current law, 75 percent of Title II funds should be used for developmental programs and, at a minimum, $450 million per fiscal year must be allocated for those purposes. The Committee bill reverses the developmental focus of PL 480 Title II. Claiming that more “flexibility” is needed to use funds for emergencies, the bill cuts the minimum funding level for developmental programs by 39 percent, allowing them to fall to the historically low level of $275 million, and caps the amount of funds that can be used for nonemergency programs at 30 percent.

The Alliance urges elimination of the cap and continuation of the current minimum funding level for developmental Title II programs. Mr. Evans commented, “Developmental food aid programs are not decreasing the availability of emergency food aid; they are reducing reliance on it.”

Moreover, in addition to Title II, other funds are available to meet emergency food needs, such as the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust and $300 million a year in disaster assistance funds.

According to Ellen Levinson, executive director of the Alliance for Global Food Security, “More than half of Title II emergency funding is spent on programs that continue for two or more years and are located in areas that suffer from recurring crises, such as production shortfalls, droughts and economic downturns. Well-planned, developmental food aid programs are much more effective than emergency distribution those types of poor communities, which are plagued with chronic shortfalls and needs. By preserving land and water and improving agriculture, incomes, and child nutrition, millions become less vulnerable to food shortages and escape the hunger cycle.”

Using Monetization to Promote Development

As part of a nonemergency food aid program, the U.S. government may allow the sale of a commodity that is in short supply in the recipient country because of insufficient production and inadequate commercial imports. The proceeds must be used for specific developmental activities within that country. This is called “monetization.” Informally, monetization may also take place when recipients of emergency food aid sell some of the commodities they receive in nearby markets.

The Senate bill does not allow monetization for nonemergency programs if the sales price is less than 70 percent of the amount spent to buy and ship the commodity to the recipient country. That formula undervalues the commodity to a food deficit, developing country and is unworkable because it is not possible to know the procurement cost or sales price until the program is underway. The Alliance recommends changing the provision to require that the sale takes place at the fair market price for the commodity in the recipient country in order to avoid interfering with local production and marketing. In addition, there should be better coordination between the two government agencies that have monetization programs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Agency for International Development.

Procuring Food Aid Commodities Overseas

As a follow on to a pilot program in the last Farm Bill, the Senate bill would establish a new “local-regional purchase” program at USDA for procuring food aid commodities in developing countries for emergency or nonemergency programs. USAID uses disaster assistance funds for buying commodities overseas for emergencies and this new USDA program should avoid duplicating the USAID program. Thus, the Alliance recommends modifying the bill’s local-regional purchase program to focus on developing the capacity of low-income agricultural producers, cooperatives, and processors to supply safe, wholesome foods to their local markets and food assistance programs.

Alliance members are private voluntary organizations and cooperatives that are committed to addressing hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity. They operate in over 100 developing countries, implementing emergency and development programs that build the capacity of local communities, enterprises and institutions. For further information on food assistance programs, please see www.foodaid.org.

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ABOUT THE ALLIANCE FOR GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY:

The members of the Alliance for Global Food Security are private voluntary organizations and cooperatives that are committed to addressing hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity. They operate in over 100 developing countries, implementing emergency and development programs that directly engage, support and build the capacity of local communities, enterprises and institutions. Members include ACDI/VOCA, Adventist Development & Relief Agency International, Congressional Hunger Center, Counterpart International, Food for the Hungry, International Relief & Development, United Methodist Committee on Relief, Land O’Lakes, OIC International, Planet Aid, PCI, Salesian Missions and World Vision.

PHOTO: USAID

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The Child Hotline 116 is an around-the-clock counseling hotline staffed by social workers—along with other trained professionals—offering hope and prospects for the future for children suffering from the ravages of war. Many of the children live on the streets of Sierra Leone’s largest cities and unable to read or write, they struggle to survive. Sierra Leone‘s brutal civil war has resulted in 500,000 displaced families, 60,000 orphans and thousands of street children. Two-thirds of the population is impoverished and unemployment rates are at crisis levels.

The counseling hotline was launched by Don Bosco Fambul, in partnership with Sierra Leone’s telecommunications providers, Airtel, Africell, and Comium, who have guaranteed that every call will be free of charge. With cell phone use surging in Sierra Leone, the hotline is a perfect vehicle for connecting children to the many vital services provided by Don Bosco Fambul. It is the outgrowth of an initial pilot known as the Basics Mobil, initiated after it was found that many street children, especially girls in the slums, were unable to reach the Don Bosco Fambul or family home in Freetown.

Don Bosco Fambul, a Salesian-run center in Freetown, is committed to providing street children prospects for a better future, along with helping to strengthen families and enable youth to become responsible citizens.

“By means of all our projects, we want to be there for children and youths facing personal crisis,” says Brother Lothar Wager, director of Don Bosco Fambul. “We devote our time to them. and we do so without exception—24 hours a day, weekdays and weekends, working days and holidays, day and night.”

The hotline creates an essential link in connecting children in need to the variety of life-changing programs offered by Don Bosco Fambul. All of the programming directly addresses issues facing street children—including emotional trauma from the war and lost family. With the goal of reuniting with their families, youth participate in a 10-month program which includes counseling, medical care and education.

The brutal civil war in Sierra Leone not only caused death and destruction, it destroyed the economic fabric and infrastructure of the country and made rebuilding difficult. Families were torn apart, with many children recruited as soldiers and worse, as slaves. Nearly a decade after the war’s end, Sierra Leone is still struggling to rebuild schools, train teachers and reach children who have never seen the inside of a classroom. Coupled with the aftermath resulting in harsh child labor, rape, child trafficking and sexual abuse, the Child Hotline 116 is working to resolve many resulting issues. Other agencies, like UNICEF and its partners are working to improve education and bring opportunities for schooling to all the country’s children.

“We want to prevent children from ending up on the streets,” Bro. Wagner adds. “We want to strengthen them and provide possible solutions to enable them to regain control of their lives within a short period of time.”

Education is one of those solutions—and the focus of the work of the Salesians in Sierra Leone and around the globe in more than 130 countries.

Don Bosco Fambul has been helping street children and unemployed youth as well as their families in Freetown for more than 10 years. Apart from working with street children, the organization offers a 10-month rehabilitation program for 70 street children and 1,500 former street boys and girls—supported by the Family Tracing Department, whose goal is the reunification of families separated by conflict and war.

Additionally, scholarships and training programs are available and a youth center is open daily, offering support for families. This center and a number of shelters provide food and drinks, showers and laundry, a place to retreat and sleep, and the opportunity to connect with other children in similar circumstances.

Don Bosco Fambul is a member of the Child Helpline International, an organization whose work is grounded in a firm belief in the rights of children—as explicitly laid out in such internationally recognized and binding documents as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

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Sources:

Salesian Missions

Don Bosco Fambul

ANS (Salesian Info Agency)

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Ban’s statement came at a ministerial mini-summit on humanitarian response to the Horn of Africa which was held on the sidelines of the ongoing general debate of the UN General Assembly ‘s 66th session.

“The Horn of Africa is in crisis, and that crisis grows deeper by the day,” Ban said. “In Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti, more than 13 million people need our help.”
According to Ban, there is a shortage of about 700 million U.S. dollars in assistance needed in 2011 for the region.

The food crisis in the Horn of Africa has been caused by drought and rising food prices. Saturday’s mini-summit is aimed at raising vital funds for needs in the African region.
Also at the meeting, Nassir Abdulaziz Al- Nasser, president of the General Assembly, called the humanitarian disaster in Northeast Africa to be on an “unimaginable scale.”

“As the world’s preeminent forum for international peace and security, it is our collective responsibility to provide moral and financial support to these highly vulnerable populations,” Al- Nasser said. “The rights to food, life and security are, after all, universal human rights.”

Al-Nasser said the General Assembly will focus on the humanitarian crisis there, pledging “we must also share the information and work closely and cooperative to ensure all needs are met” in addressing the complex issue.

“Underpinning our work must be the recognition that humanitarian issues are development issues, and that our success in protecting against natural disasters, such as extreme drought, will have a direct impact on the ability to fulfill the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” he said.

About Salesian Missions at the United Nations

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

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“The crisis in the Horn of Africa is a human disaster becoming a human catastrophe,” reports Anthony Lake, executive director of UNICEF, the U.N.’s children’s agency.

According to Lake, 1.4 million children are affected in Somalia alone, with an estimated 390,000 suffering from malnutrition. His agency estimates that nearly 140,000 children in south-central Somalia are currently suffering from “severe acute malnutrition” and are near death.

On July 20, the U.N. declared a famine in two regions of southern Somalia, marking the first time since the early 90s that the U.N. has declared famine in Somalia. Across the region, nearly 11 million people are at risk according to UNICEF.

Malnutrition rates in Somalia are currently the highest in the world, with peaks of 50 percent in southern areas, according to Mark Bowden, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia.

Aid agencies have struggled to reach the most desperate parts of Somalia, where Al-Shabab extremists maintain control and refuse access to essential humanitarian organizations, including the U.N. World Food Program. As a result, tens of thousands are fleeing to refugee camps in neighboring countries Ethiopia and Kenya.

The children and people of the Horn of Africa face not only a threat of death from starvation, but from diseases that spread easily in overcrowded refugee camps. Men, women and children travel hundreds of miles on foot to make it to refugee camps where, sadly, they face another deadly threat.

Water-borne diseases are also a “lethal threat to children in southern Somalia,” according to an Aug. 18 report from UNICEF, which urges that a rapid response is needed as cholera cases increase. The report cites that 75 percent of all cases of highly infectious acute watery diarrhea are among children under five.

According to UNICEF, many of the Horn of Africa’s rural and urban areas rely on shallow wells, which – unless they are protected or treated with chlorine – can become a perfect breeding ground for water-borne diseases.

Therefore, aid must not only focus on providing food, it must also include plans for access to ongoing clean water, says Brother Cesare Bullo, executive director of the Salesian Planning and Development Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

His office has put together plans to “rehabilitate” shallow wells to make them safe as well as dig new wells.

“We have located four water points that need to be rehabilitated and strengthened through the purchase of new pumps and additional excavations to find more water,” says Br. Bullo. “The new wells will be built in four areas for local communities very much in need of water at the moment. The wells need to be capable of providing a sufficient quantity of water during the droughts.”

In order to complete these projects, and provide life-saving food aid and water distribution, the Salesians have coordinated an international fundraising initiative. Salesian Missions of New Rochelle, NY, has put out an urgent appeal to U.S. donors to help raise the project goal of $850,000 that this initial response will require. To make a donation, go to www.SalesianMissions.org.

UN Photo/Stuart Price

Sources:

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39086&Cr=Somali&Cr1=

http://www.unicef.org/media/media_59585.html

http://www.unicef.org/media/media_59241.html

The post HORN OF AFRICA: More than 300,000 Children at “Risk of Dying” from Malnutrition, Disease first appeared on MissionNewswire.

“Entire communities have nothing to eat and people, many of them children, are dying,” explained Salesian missionaries serving in the Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya. More than 20,000 Somali refugees sought refuge at the camp after fleeing the political instability, hunger and overcrowding of other camps. This brings the total refugees at Kakuma to more than 50,000 with an estimated 1,000 additional Somali refugees arriving daily.

In refugee camps served by Salesians in the area, more than 80,000 people are in need of assistance, according to Brother Cesare Bullo, executive director of the Salesian Planning and Development Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Authorities fear that this crisis could become worse than the famine of 1984-85 when more than one million people died. In response, the Salesians have organized an international fundraising initiative aimed to raise at least $850,000 to provide necessary aid for 6 months.

Projects to address the urgent needs of the drought and famine victims include the repair and maintenance of existing wells, drilling of new wells, water distribution and emergency food aid.

The repair and maintenance of four wells will provide a long-term water supply for 8,000 people. In additional, four new wells will be constructed. In total, it is estimated that at least 14,000 people will benefit from these new water sources.

“We have located four water points that need to be rehabilitated and strengthened through the purchase of new pumps and additional excavations to find more water,” says Br. Bullo. “The new wells will be built in four areas for local communities very much in need of water at the moment. The wells need to be capable of providing a sufficient quantity of water during the droughts.”

The Salesians also have a plan in the works to provide a water tracking service for water distribution in the area around Jijiga, to aid the pastoralist communities. The goal is to distribute 10-12,000 liters of water twice daily.

With 1,000 new refugees arriving daily in Ethiopia from Somalia, Br. Bullo says it takes three to four days for them to register with UNHCR and enter the camp to receive aid.

“They arrive after having walked more than 600 kilometers,” says Br. Bullo, emphasizing the urgent nature of the refugees’ needs.

“We are working to distribute food outside the refugee camps while they are waiting to be registered,” he says, referring to the area of Dolo Ado in the Southern part of Somalia. “We estimate we can provide 2,000 daily rations which means 1,000 people will benefit from the daily distribution for at least three or four days before entering the camps.”

Br. Bullo estimates they will help at least 10,000 people outside the camps in the first month.

Salesian Missions calls on the public to make donations, as they are urgently needed to fulfill these essential life-saving projects.

“So far, we have raised about a third of the needed funds and are hopeful that the remaining amount will follow as caring friends and donors learn of the crisis,” says Father Mark Hyde, director of Salesian Missions in New Rochelle, NY.

To make a donation, go to www.SalesianMissions.org, click on Donate Now and select “African Famine Fund.”

The Salesians specialize in assessing specific needs and identifying best possible emergency interventions to aid as many people as possible. Since they are already established in the communities working to help those in need, they are in a unique position to assess situations and respond.

For example, in Ethiopia the Salesians operate in 14 towns, providing schools, feeding programs, housing for orphans, and HIV/AIDS intervention programs. In Kenya, the Salesians bring classrooms to refugee camps, protect youth from disease, teach agriculture skills, feed hungry children and families, and much more.

PHOTO: ROBERTO SCHMIDT (AFP/Getty)

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During her week-long goodwill tour through South Africa, the first lady’s focus was on the country’s youth and their vital role in its future.

During her June 22 speech addressing the Young African Women Leaders Forum in a Soweto township in Johannesburg, Mrs. Obama touched on the fact that in Africa, “people under 25 make up 60 percent of the population. And here in South Africa, nearly two-thirds of citizens are under the age of 30. So over the next 20 years, the next 50 years, our future will be shaped by your leadership.”

She then paused and asked the audience to think about the meaning of the word “leadership.”

“Because I know that so often, when we think about what that word means, what it means to be a leader, we think of presidents and prime ministers,” Mrs. Obama said in her speech. “And most young people don’t fit that image.”

She went on to talk about her belief that youth can be true leaders, and that the time is now.

“I am here because I know that true leadership—leadership that lifts families, leadership that sustains communities and transforms nations—that kind of leadership rarely starts in palaces or parliaments. That kind of leadership is not limited only to those of a certain age or status. And that kind of leadership is not just about dramatic events that change the course of history in an instant.”

Throughout South Africa, there are programs dedicated to the empowerment of youth—providing education and teaching leadership skills that will reshape the country and the world.

“It is only through the youth, that change truly happens,” says Father Mark Hyde, director of Salesian Missions, which operates such programs. “Through education and opportunities, we can fight poverty and open doors to a better life for the people of South Africa, and the world.”

The Salesians are providing hope to South African young people, he adds, many of which struggle to find their way in a country hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS crisis and plagued with high crime, and gender-based violence against women and girls.

“There is an urgent need for education to help prevent the spread of the deadly virus,” says Fr. Hyde, noting that the Salesians have been helping the children of South Africa since 1951.

Most recently, the Salesians have been working on HIV/AIDS prevention through a U.S. government-funded project that is part of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Working in schools from grades 4 through 12, the “Life Choices” program aims to decrease HIV/AIDS prevalence, teen pregnancy, substance abuse and violence among youth.

“An important component is HIV voluntary counseling and testing as an effective method of preventing new infections,” says Nolawi Eshetu of the Salesian Missions Office for International Programs headquartered in New Rochelle, NY.

“The program also offers one-on-one counseling, career and guidance counseling, parental skills workshops and teacher sensitivity,” Eshetu adds, speaking from his home country of Ethiopia, where he is working on a program similar to the one in South Africa.

In a country devastated by HIV/AIDS and where 10 million people die every year from hunger-related diseases—according to the United Nations—breaking the cycle of poverty is a challenge that requires a comprehensive approach.

“But fighting disease and feeding them alone will not create brighter futures,” says Fr. Hyde. “We work each and every day in South Africa—and around the globe—to teach youth to care for themselves and for others. We work to create educated leaders from youth that otherwise would see little in their futures.”

At the Salesian Missions “Learn to Live” educational program in Cape Town, homeless street children arrive each day eager to learn and escape their lives on the street. Children ages 16 and younger learn math, literacy and life skills. Older students receive technical and vocational training.

“All youth become empowered to permanently leave the streets, continue schooling, obtain jobs and be reintegrated with their families and society,” says Fr. Hyde. “They receive the tools and guidance to do this. But most importantly, they have someone who believes in them.”

Photo: CHARLES DHARAPAK/AFP/Getty Images (2011)

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The Salesians are widely regarded as the largest single provider of technical vocational training in the world. Don Bosco – the founder of the Roman Catholic Religious order – opened the first Salesian vocational training school in Turin, Italy in 1845. Since then, the congregation’s network of vocational training schools has expanded to provide assistance to underserved populations in more than 100 countries on six continents. Salesian Missions in New Rochelle, NY, is the U.S.-based arm of the Salesians, which works to raise funds and develop international programs.

Working with Fordham’s International Political Economy and Development graduate program, the study examines the design and delivery of training programs compared to practices employed at non-Salesian vocational schools—with particular emphasis on student selection, skills taught, job-placement, and post-training support.

“Our partnership with Fordham University allows us to build on the Salesians’ decades of experience providing training services in these countries,” says Jaime Correa-Montalvo of the Salesian Missions Office for International Programs headquartered in New Rochelle, NY.

With support from professors, Fordham students review previous literature and academic research on vocational training and workforce development practices before traveling on summer assignments to the developing world to visit Salesian vocational schools. There, they conduct field-level surveys with school administrators, teachers, and current and former students.

In 2010, students traveled to countries throughout Asia and Africa. Similar fieldwork is planned for 2011 and beyond, with the eventual goal of publication in an academic journal and a “best practices” manual that will be shared with Salesian vocational schools throughout the world.

“By studying, documenting and building awareness of  best practices we hope to assist Salesians in providing assistance to those most in need,” Correa-Montalvo adds.

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PHOTO: Salesian vocational school in the Dominican Republic. Credit: MARTIN DIGGS/SALESIAN MISSIONS

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To respond to its street children in crisis, Don Bosco Fambul of Sierra Leone has developed two unique programs which reach children wherever they are – an outreach bus and a 24-hour crisis line.

The brightly colored bus, known by some as “Hope on Wheels,” provides much needed protection to street children like Edward, a 14-year-old youth who recently told how he and other Sierra Leone street children have been threatened, beaten and jailed by police for no apparent reason. A recently released investigative report titled, “Children of the Street,” published by Fambul, reveals how street children are unfairly targeted for abuse by law enforcement agencies responsible for looking after these vulnerable members of society.

The outreach bus operates as a full-service support center where children can receive basic health care and counseling services as well as play games with friends and watch educational movies. Each day, staff members work for and with 1,500 disadvantaged street children and youth.

“Don Bosco Fambul reaches out to an estimated 2,500 street children living in the region – 500 of whom are girls. The Don Bosco bus will help those who have been abandoned by their parents, the government and unfortunately even those who are supposed to protect them.  They are facing emotional trauma from the war, family separation and poverty,” says Fr. Mark Hyde, director of Salesian Missions (the U.S.-based fund-raising arm for Salesian programs around the globe, including this one).

Another program – the 24-hour crisis line for emergency and advisory services – extends Don Bosco Fambul’s ability to reach youth in need far outside the borders of Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown.

“The phone line allows youth closeness and distance at the same time. They hear a voice talking to them and feel safe – and are therefore able to speak about their problems confidentially. This is especially important in cases of sexual abuse of girls and young women,” says Fr. Hyde.

“The crisis line is an important addition to our services, as we have found in the last few years that the communication behavior of young people in Sierra Leone has changed. Nearly everyone, male or female, owns or has access to a mobile phone,” says Fr. Hyde.  “Our missions have to be constantly adapting to the real-life situations of street youth. Both the crisis line and the outreach bus are allowing us to reach children and youth who otherwise would not have access to Don Bosco Fambul’s services.”

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