This spring, the Sahel received insufficient rainfall: meaning that there is not enough water to sustain crops, livestock, and people. Although the Sahel often struggles with food insecurity, this year's circumstances are far worse. Combined with other man-made factors, the Sahel entered the early stages of what could be a terrible famine. Sahel droughts endanger over 15 million people throughout various nations.
Famines are not high-profile emergencies like recent tsunamis, earthquakes or floods. The widespread concern with this type of humanitarian crisis is that it takes time to develop into a full-blown disaster, meaning that many fail to recognize the severity of the situation until thousands of lives are lost.
Fortunately, governments and humanitarian organizations have been working for years to develop early warning systems so we can spot famine conditions before they start and intervene early to save lives and prevent suffering. GlobalGiving partners with numerous organizations working to prevent disaster-like humanitarian conditions in the Sahel. Your donation will be disbursed to projects working in the region run by organizations such as Edesia, UNHCR, Oxfam, Mercy Corps, and others.
We here at GlobalGiving believe that proactive measures are often better than reactive responses and that prevention truly is better than a cure. For example, preparing water sources for 80,000 Ethiopians before a famine cost $900,000 and prevented death and suffering, but trucking water across the desert for 5 months costs $3 million, over three times as much. Your donation to help provide preventative aid to the Sahel region can help avert a humanitarian disaster.
When a disaster strikes, recovery efforts led by people who live and work in affected communities are often overlooked and underfunded. GlobalGiving is changing this reality. Since 2004, we've been shifting decision-making power to crises-affected communities through trust-based grantmaking and support.
We make it easy, quick, and safe to support people on the ground who understand needs in their communities better than anyone else.
They were there long before the news cameras arrived, and they’ll be there long after the cameras leave. They know how to make their communities more resilient to future disasters, and they’re already hard at work. GlobalGiving puts donations and grants directly into their hands. Because the status quo—which gives the vast majority of funding to a few large organizations—doesn’t make sense.
Questions about this project? Contact us
