Responding to food and fuel shortages

Our communities in rural northern Ghana are facing rapidly increasing food insecurity.

Several global and regional factors are converging in ways that are reducing food availability now and are expected to cause severe food shortages later this year. Below, we have shared we are seeing and how we are responding.

Why we are concerned

Conflict in the Middle East is disrupting global fuel and fertilizer systems, which disproportionately impacts low-income regions and nations. At the same time, global food and health aid, which in the past might have helped in this situation, has experienced large funding cuts.

Communities, like our partners, living in extreme poverty, are among the most vulnerable. In rural villages, food security depends on both fuel to transport food from coastal regions and fertilizer to grow crops.

Food prices are already rising rapidly. And, unfortunately, there is little to no fertilizer available to purchase for the planting season which begins in May. For young children, like the students in our schools, the impacts are especially high. Even short periods of food insecurity can affect health, growth, and the ability to learn.

What we are doing

• We have used our reserve funding to immediately purchase and store corn and rice. We prioritized purchasing from women in our women’s farming program to provide the women with funds for their families and then purchased additional food from women in nearby communities.
• The cooks from each village are increasing school meal portions and adding groundnuts for additional nutrition.
• We are starting a lunch program in a rural village where malnutrition is severe and hiring women farmers to cook food for children under age 7.
• Our partners are exploring take-home food options and distribution of food to mothers of children under age 5 and pregnant women.
• We are exploring local fertilizer alternatives, using cow manure, while carefully considering safety and feasibility.

Engage Globally is not typically an emergency response organization. Our focus is long-term, community-led development. However, food insecurity can quickly reverse progress in education, health, and economic stability. We believe early action and strong partnerships are needed to ensure that children and families have what they need during this challenging time.

How you can help

We are trying to raise $5,000 by May 30 for the initial steps of this response. We have a $1,000 donor matching fund for any gift made by May 15.

These funds will:

• Purchase additional rice, corn, peanuts, cooking oil, and any available vegetables.
• Enable distribution of food to those who are most vulnerable.
• Purchase peanut paste (like peanut butter) that can be given to older youth so that they can have food so they can continue to go to their schools. 
• Fund the hiring of community members and provision of equipment so that they can compost cow manure to distribute as fertilizer for women’s farms.
• Increase our emergency health care fund, as we anticipate food shortages will lead to a variety of health challenges for our students.

This is a moment where early investment can make a meaningful difference allowing us to act quickly, build reserves, stabilize food access, and help minimize the severity of fertilizer shortages for the upcoming farming season. We welcome the opportunity to discuss this effort. Please feel free to reach out at engage@engageglobally.org.