City charity hopes federal matching will spur donations for Sahel region

Enlarge Image

Since late 2011, aid groups have been sounding the alarm, warning that devastating drought has again weakened communities where children already live perilously close to the edge of malnutrition. The situation is most severe in Niger, Chad and in Mali, but this time it has also pervaded northern Senegal, the most prosperous and stable country in the Sahel. (REBECCA BLACKWELL / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES)

Forecast: Famine

• The suffering Sahel

• Hope turns to dust in Niger

• Vicious cycle

• Securing food for Niger a risky business

• Trees, shrubs vanishing from Sahel

• Fortress of food

• Paradox of hunger in Niger

• More mouths but less to feed them

• Diverse, yet peaceful

• Home, comfortable home

A Winnipeg charity is urging people to give in order to help end the humanitarian crisis in the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa, after the federal government announced today it will match dollar-for-dollar Canadian donations made to end the crisis.

Winnipeg-based Foodgrains Bank is one of many registered Canadian charities responding to the crisis through the government’s Sahel Crisis Matching Fund.

Drought, rising food costs, population displacement and insecurity have contributed to the food and nutrition crisis in the region. The Sahel region of Africa stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea and includes Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia and northern Cameroon as some of the most affected countries.

Foodgrains said they have an appeal in the region called the Sahel Emergency Food Appeal, where funds will be matched by the government. They have committed 10,000 tonnes of food worth $9.7 million to Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. The federal government has also contributed $10 million to the Sahel Crisis Matching Fund on top of matching donations.