Liberia: Inflation and Poverty
As you know, there's often been food shortages and famines in Africa, however, what is happening right now is more subtle, widespread and extremely serious. In addition to population increases, several other factors are contributing to this crisis.
You see, in the last few years, worldwide demand for meat, dairy and grain has grown exponentially in rapidly-expanding economies like India and China. As the middle classes increase their consumption of these commodities, world prices have shown a dramatic rise and in some places have doubled. In addition, there are other major contributing factors, such as the use of grain for bio fuel, and the substantial increase in energy prices has increased the cost of producing and transporting food. This problem is not going to go away — it's a long term problem that requires a long-term solution. The ones who'll suffer most are the poor, children, widows, the elderly and other vulnerable groups. However, with your support, we can make a difference. Will you help us to address this crisis?
With your help we've been supporting programs that alleviate poverty — long-term — and give the poor an opportunity to earn a living, or increase their family income, through small business activities. These splendid programs have lifted thousands of families out of poverty and given them hope. As food prices rise, the poor are the first to go hungry. The income-generating programs WRCanada supports will become even more crucial for these families and that's why we urgently need your help to expand these initiatives.
If we don't intervene with these measures, the consequences to tens of thousands of people will be disastrous. Bob Zoellick, president of the World Bank says, "Food inflation could push 100 million people into absolute poverty wiping out all the progress the poorest billion have made in economic growth in almost a decade."
In the West African country of Liberia, where people are recovering from the affects of years of civil conflict, they are experiencing the devastating effects of the food-price crisis. Liberia has been identified by the United Nation World Food Programme as one of 37 countries facing a hunger crisis as a result of food-price hikes. In 1994 World Relief started a local MFI called LEAP. To assist with the current crisis, LEAP is planning to increase its clients from 4,000 to 10,000. They will also be given basic business and healthcare training. But none of this will happen without your support, and CIDA is willing to match your gift 2:1!
In Burundi, WRCanada's partner, Turame Community Bank (CB), is increasing the number of clients reached from 4,500 to 11,200. In addition to loans, the clients will receive training in credit management and business awareness. The Canadian government is supporting this initiative by matching your gift 2:1. This is a great opportunity for you to increase the effectiveness of your gift. It also means that approximately 67,000 people in this area will not be threatened with hunger due to massive food-price increases. We need to raise $123,000 in order to fulfill our obligation to this program.
