Cuts in Irish aid mean people’s death

On April, 9^th, Dòchas, the Irish Association of Non-governmental Development Organisations, made known that cuts in Ireland’s overseas aid will mean the death of many people. The Association reported the following examples of consequences arising from cuts in Irish aid to development:

– In Ituri District in eastern DR Congo, an Oxfam Ireland programme providing the community with clean water and sanitation facilities has helped cut cholera from thousands of cases to a handful, saving hundreds of lives. The funding for this project has been completely eliminated in recent cuts. If we stop funding this programme, people will die.

– Trócaire is supporting over 143,000 people in East Africa who are facing severe drought and increasing food prices. Trócaire‘s programme is feeding malnourished children, pregnant mothers and the elderly. It is also helping people to produce their own food, so they are less vulnerable to food shortages. This programme would not be possible without significant funding from Irish Aid. Further cuts to the overseas aid budget would end this programme and similar life-saving programmes elsewhere.

– In Kenya, 10 million people don’t have enough to eat. As part of a wider response, Concern requested funding from the Irish government to assist 40,000 families – to provide them with food, water, health services and livestock. Because of the financial crisis here, the funding was not available. As a result, those 40,000 families will not receive the critical help they so urgently need.

– In Bangladesh, where millions of people face flooding each year, Concern does a lot of work providing flood defences. Recent funding cutbacks have halted a range of these projects, which is going to have severe impacts on vulnerable people facing into the rainy season.

– Nganashe Lembris, a mother of five in Olarash village, Tanzania, has improved her own small farming business, got involved in a small co-op and savings scheme, and helped build awareness of HIV and AIDS through a development programme run by Hakikazi Catalyst, a partner of Oxfam Ireland‘s. Cuts in funding will undermine real-life success stories like this, and have devastating effects on ordinary people in poor countries, including Ireland’s chosen partner countries.

According to the Association, the human impact of the global crisis on the world’s poorest people is incalculable, and the reported examples give some sense of the tragedies arising from cuts in Ireland’s overseas aid budget.

 

Source:

www.dochas.ie