(Ottawa) – One year after a devastating drought was declared in the Horn of Africa, the Canadian Red Cross continues to help communities across the region recover and rebuild. Red Cross efforts have shifted from immediate relief, like life-saving feeding and health care centres, to include long-term recovery programs that ensure communities are healthier and more resilient to future crises.
“Canadians can be proud that their donations are supporting programs across the Horn of Africa that help communities recover from this crisis and build a stronger future,” says Conrad Sauvé, secretary general and CEO of the Canadian Red Cross. “The Canadian Red Cross is working closely with Red Cross partners in the region to deliver programs in education, health, water and sanitation, and livelihoods improvement to meet the needs of local communities.”
Canadians generously donated approximately 14 million dollars to relieve immediate suffering and rebuild lives and livelihoods in the Horn, which includes Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Tanzania and Ethiopia. During the height of the crisis, the Red Cross supported more than two million people with emergency food and relief items, water and sanitation, healthcare, and livelihoods projects.
“Cyclical crises can only be fully addressed through long-term programming that addresses the root causes and chronic conditions that drive them,” adds Sauvé. “For this reason, the Canadian Red Cross has ongoing programming in the region to support long-term projects that reduce communities’ vulnerability to future shocks.”
Funding from the Canadian Red Cross supports feeding programs that help families keep their children in school, agricultural programs that teach pastoralists and farmers skills to sustainably produce more crops, and irrigation and farming improvements that will improve farmers’ livelihoods and health.
The Canadian Red Cross is a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, which includes the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Committee of the Red Cross and 187 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Our mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity in Canada and around the world.