Government of Canada pledges to match donations for food crisis across Africa

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With millions facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, the Government of Canada has launched its own Famine Relief Fund and will match every eligible donation made by individual Canadians between March 17 and June 30, 2017.

This includes any donations made to the Canadian Red Cross Africa Drought Appeal, which will help the Red Cross provide life-saving food, health care and clean water in the regions affected.

Donations to the Red Cross will also support local Red Cross partners in those regions as they provide relief to the more than 20 million people in urgent need of assistance.

The announcement from the Government was made by International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Monday. "I encourage all Canadians to donate to the registered Canadian charities of their choice," Bibeau said in a statement. "Together, we can make a difference and bring relief to people who need urgent help."

For every eligible donation made by individual Canadians to the Canadian Red Cross and other registered Canadian charities between March 17 and June 30, 2017, the Government of Canada will contribute an equivalent amount to their own Famine Relief Fund.

This fund will support Canadian and international organizations currently hard at work helping those in need in the affected countries and neighbouring regions. Complete details of the Government’s Famine Relief Fund can be found here.

Responding to an Unprecedented Humanitarian Crisis

Red Cross Red Crescent and member National Societies are scaling up support to vulnerable communities throughout Africa. Local Red Cross and Red Crescent staff and volunteers are embedded in many of the most vulnerable and hardest-to-reach communities, and this deep and permanent reach is further strengthened by their ability to draw on the resources and expertise of the world’s largest humanitarian network.
 
Red Cross Red Crescent and National Societies are rallying to respond, building on their ongoing efforts to foster resilience and provide social protection, and capitalizing on the access and reach that only Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers and staff have.

Moving forward, the Red Cross Red Crescent has three priorities – reach, response, resilience:

• Delivering relief in hard-to-reach and underserviced areas so that people are not left behind.
• Community-based health response to prevent and treat malnutrition and infectious disease outbreaks such as measles, malaria and diarrhoea.
• Supporting Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers and staff working with local people to build community resilience through programmes that restore dignity, strengthen food security and support long-term development, such as cash, livelihoods, and water, sanitation and hygiene.

How Canadians Can Help