The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world.
SYRIA: With Syrian wheat production
predicted to be 52 per cent below previous levels, urgent action has been taken by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in conjunction with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to help people to provide for their own futures. This project aims to improve food security conditions for vulnerable small-scale farming households and poor communities living in areas affected by the current crisis in Syria via supporting the production of grains. To date, 16,220 crop farmers and 1,766 livestock breeders have been reached.
IRAQ: Sinjar is a town in the governorate of Ninawa, in Western north west Iraq. It is home to about 23,000 people and the local branch of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society has 40 volunteers. While the branch has dealt with crises before, it is likely that they were not expecting to see their town expand to host 70,000 more people. But with families fleeing violence in the nearby city of Tal Afar, that day has come. As with many communities forced to deal with the effects of mass migration, the people of Sinjar showed its great humanitarian heart. The Red Crescent volunteers are leading the humanitarian operations, they have been working for 17 days – all day, every day – to provide shelter, food, water, ice, milk for babies and hot meals.