LWR Receives Over Half Million Grant for Niger Relief
Lutheran World Relief (LWR) received more than a half million dollars to help nomadic communities in Niger avoid food crisis through new, innovative approaches to improve pastoralists’ food security.
Lutheran World Relief (LWR) received more than a half million dollars to help nomadic communities in Niger avoid food crisis through new, innovative approaches to improve pastoralists’ food security.
The Baltimore-based emergencies and disaster organization received a $640,104 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help bring vulnerable populations back from the brink of hunger. The 18-month grant will support a project in the Dakoro region of Niger, working with nomadic pastoralists to help them improve household nutrition and reduce vulnerability to food shortages.
"We can't reverse the problems that caused this year's crisis," said LWR president Kathryn Wolford in a statement released by LWR, "but we can make a significant impact by addressing the root causes of vulnerability among pastoralist communities, increasing the peoples' capacity to care for their families and ultimately reducing their dependence on outside aid."
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Nomadic pastoralists are among the most vulnerable populations in the Sahel – the region devastated by the worst food crisis in the last thirty years. The food crisis resulted from a number of factors including drought, locust swarm, and high food prices that made food out of reach for the poor.
The pastoralists lost many animals to starvation when water, pasture and access to feed became harder to find, resulting in the lost of not only milk and protein from their diets but also the income from selling the animals.
In response, LWR, with the support of the Gates Foundation grant, will implement an innovative four-pronged, community-based approach to help address the problems faced by pastoralists during the food crisis. The approach includes digging community wells which will make pastoralists less susceptible to drought in the future and help stabilize traditional livestock management practices. Establishing community feed banks to stabilize prices and availability of animal feed, thereby increasing pastoralists' net income and making them less vulnerable to economic shocks. Establishing clearly delineated migration routes, agreed upon by both the herders and neighboring farmers, which will diminish conflict between these communities. And finally, restocking herds through local women's associations will both address the immediate need created by the decimation of existing herds, as well as create a sustainable, cooperative method of keeping herds healthy.
"Even though the food crisis has faded from the headlines, it still continues and needs our constant attention," Wolford said after returning from a trip to Niger in September. "It's clear that we need to focus a great deal of energy and effort to address the natural and manmade forces that, left alone, will only continue the cycle of poverty and the possibility for starvation."
