By Sam Vander Ende
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- When people are starving in the developing world, we see and hear it in the media. But when a country announces that hunger is decreasing, it rarely makes the news. But that’s what has happened in Ethiopia.
In August the Ethiopian government announced that the number of people requiring food assistance in 2012 had declined to 2.7 million from 5.5 million in 2011.
For Canadian Foodgrains Bank and its supporters, this is good news. The Foodgrains Bank has been involved in Ethiopia through its member agencies right from its beginning in 1983. With support from the Canadian government, over the past 30 years it has provided significant resources for hunger and poverty reduction activities.
Unfortunately, the general perception among Canadians is that Ethiopia is a “basket case.” The dominant image in the media is that the only thing we can offer people in that country is more humanitarian aid.
The truth of the matter is that Ethiopia has never been a “basket case,” despite the prevailing impression given by the media. True, there have been food emergencies that the world has been called on to respond to. But the overall trend over the past number of years is that things are getting better in that country for people who don’t have enough to eat.
The Foodgrains Bank and its members can take some credit for this positive situation. Our role has been small, but significant. Over the past 30 years we have provided food aid, but also food security projects that have helped preserve and build community assets—assets that are an investment in the future of the community.
Through member projects supported by the Foodgrains Bank, heavily eroded mountain-sides have been made suitable for farming through terracing; large tracts of forests have grown from seedlings planted decades ago; and crops are being grown on formerly unproductive land through small-scale irrigation schemes.
At the same time, roads built with help from the Foodgrains Bank mean that produce can get to market, children can go to school and people can get to hospitals. These are the investments that are now paying dividends, and that are contributing to the decrease in hunger.
This isn’t to say that all the problems and challenges have been eliminated. Ethiopia still wrestles with the scourge of poverty, of which hunger and food security are the most severe manifestations. But that is not the only story about Ethiopia; as this announcement shows, there is also good news to report and celebrate.
Who knows? Maybe one day I will witness the closing of the Foodgrains Bank’s regional office in Addis Ababa because food assistance is no longer required in Ethiopia. It’s a dream, I know, but the recent good news suggests it might be possible.
Vander Ende is a Field Representative for the Foodgrains Bank in Ethiopia. He has worked for the Foodgrains Bank since 1994. Canadian Foodgrains Bank is a partnership of 15 churches and church agencies working together to end global hunger. More information at www.foodgrainsbank.ca
See original news story at http://www.africareview.com/News/Ethiopia+halves+food+aid+dependents/-/9....
John Longhurst
Director, Resources & Public Engagement
Canadian Foodgrains Bank
Ph: 204.944.1993
Cell: 204.995-1439
Toll Free: 1.800.665.0377
www.foodgrainsbank.ca