The spring rains failed in the far south of Ethiopia. Here people live on the edge at the best of times, and this is one of the worst of times. Concern Worldwide's UK Director, Lyndall Stein, travelled to there to meet some of the people affected.
As every primary school is getting their own farm with FoodAid 08, the pupils will be practising their virtual farming skills.
Teacher's get their chance to be FoodAid Champions and help to develop FoodAid for 2009.
Pupils across the country will be getting their hands dirty planting, looking after and harvesting their own crop of carrots with FoodAid 08
Ethiopia’s economy revolves around agriculture, which in turn relies on rainfall. But Ethiopia has been plagued with drought for the last eight months. The seeds that farmers
and families have planted have withered into dust. The price of food has also doubled in the past year, intensifying this desperate situation.
Concern's project in Bongay Village has alleviated the pressure on the local environment and had a huge improvement on the daily lives of all women, mothers and children. They now have more time for other essential tasks like go to school or work on their land. Without our assistance they would still be spending hours of their day just looking for fire wood.
Right now, times are difficult in Somalia. But Concern continues to help many villages that need basic access to water for drinking, sanitation and farming. Read about how our work continues to give vulnerable people better access to clean water, free from disease, and an easier way to water their land to grow food without having to walk for hours for just one jerry can of water.
Read the latest update on our ‘Unheard Voices’ campaign where we take you to Uganda to hear the real stories of poor farmers, like Florence Nakawesi, who has to feed her children boiled water because she has nothing else to feed her children.
Concern Worldwide aims to bring awareness and understanding of HIV and AIDS to all of our projects but this year we have also taken part in an award winning exhibition, ‘Positive Lives’, that is aimed at raising public awareness about the disease. Dorothy Mbazumutima in Rwanda, has HIV and allows us to capture her life on camera.
In developing countries as much as 60% of the population rely on the land for their food. And issues of land rights and the poor quality of soil mean that millions go hungry. This year, 150 countries worldwide observed World Food Day to raise awareness and inspire action to support the basic human right of access to food. Concern Worldwide’s team in Timor Leste joined us in marking the day with their very special event
Sierra Leone is the 2nd poorest country in the world but Concern is working with local communities to develop new and improve existing ways of making an income. Issa, with his improved bee hives, is producing better quality honey that is, in turn, giving the local children a new found energy and the community a new sense of hope for the future.
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Muhau Mubita, is one of many young farmers in Zambia benefiting from Concern’s project providing livestock and skills training to communities. This is a great example of how money raised by your school in this year’s FoodAid campaign can help us make a real difference.
Concern Worldwide has launched a new campaign to bring the voices of marginalised farmers in the poorest communities under the spotlight of national and international development policies. Read about how London staff joined in an event that saw 38 million people around the world stand up against poverty and wrapping a white band around the City Hall.
Zimbabwe is in the bottom 30 poorest country in the world. In recent years, drought and bad harvests have impacted harshly upon the poorest communities who rely upon the food they can grow to feed their families. While gardening has always been an important part of rural life in Zimbabwe, lack of access to water, seeds and skills has often prevented family gardens from flourishing.
Read about Concern’s pioneering work in Malawi that is helping to dramatically reduce the number of children suffering from malnutrition.
Concern staff member, Kathy Caldwell, visited Concern’s Farmer’s Field School in Sierra Leone last month to see how this inventive idea is bringing new skills and better crops to the world’s second poorest country.
Concern Worldwide is working with Ekta Parishad, in India, to campaign for land rights for the poorest communities. They are staging a 25,000 strong march to Delhi at the end of October to bring people together and to raise awareness of the need for fairness and justice in their communities.
Before Concern started farmer’s workshops in her area, Musu Junius and her family often went hungry. Now, the story is very different. Musu has learnt how to grow and protect her crops and even produces enough to sell at market for extra cash.
In the poorest communities in Cambodia, families rely on agriculture for food and the little money they can make from selling any surplus at market. For Lot Lun and his wife Bat Vuen it was extremely difficult as they could face up to eight months of food shortages a year.
What is the student to teacher ratio in some parts of Malawi? How do you survive when your only skill is farming and the crops have failed? Mhairi Owens, head of Concern’s operations in Scotland, discovered the answer to these questions on her recent visit to Malawi.
Actor Nathaniel Parker, together with documentary maker Paul Welsh, recently visited Chad with Concern Worldwide. Having helped to front the Disaster Emergencies Committee Darfur and Chad Crisis Appeal, Nathaniel went to Chad to see the conditions there for himself. Over the coming week, Nathaniel will be a guest contributor to the editor’s blog. His diary, opinions and experiences will provide a valuable glimpse into what life is like for many thousands of displaced people in Chad.
Actor Nathaniel Parker, together with documentary maker Paul Welsh, recently visited Chad with Concern Worldwide. Having helped to front the Disaster Emergencies Committee’s Darfur and Chad Crisis Appeal, Nathaniel went to Chad to see the conditions there for himself. Over the coming week, Nathaniel will be a guest contributor to the editor’s blog. His diary, opinions and experiences will provide a valuable glimpse into what life is like for many thousands of displaced people in Chad.
Actor Nathaniel Parker, together with documentary maker Paul Welsh, recently visited Chad with Concern Worldwide. Having helped to front the Disaster Emergencies Committee’s Darfur and Chad Crisis Appeal, Nathaniel went to Chad to see the conditions there for himself. Over the coming week, Nathaniel will be a guest contributor to the editor’s blog. His diary, opinions and experiences will provide a valuable glimpse into what life is like for many thousands of displaced people in Chad.
Actor Nathaniel Parker, together with documentary maker Paul Welsh, recently visited Chad with Concern Worldwide. Having helped to front the Disaster Emergencies Committee’s Darfur and Chad Crisis Appeal, Nathaniel went to Chad to see the conditions there for himself. Over the coming week, Nathaniel will be a guest contributor to the editor’s blog. His diary, opinions and experiences will provide a valuable glimpse into what life is like for many thousands of displaced people in Chad.
Lyndall Stein, who heads Concern Worldwide’s UK operations, visited Tanzania recently. Here she gives us an account of the food security work that Concern Tanzania is conducting and what Tanzanian farmers need to lift themselves out of poverty.
Actor Nathaniel Parker, together with documentary maker Paul Welsh, recently visited Chad with Concern Worldwide. Having helped to front the Disaster Emergencies Committee’s Darfur and Chad Crisis Appeal, Nathaniel went to Chad to see the conditions there for himself. Over the coming week, Nathaniel will be a guest contributor to the editor’s blog. His diary, opinions and experiences will provide a valuable glimpse into what life is like for many thousands of displaced people in Chad.
Actor Nathaniel Parker, together with documentary maker Paul Welsh, recently visited Chad with Concern Worldwide. Having helped to front the Disaster Emergencies Committee’s Darfur and Chad Crisis Appeal, Nathaniel went to Chad to see the conditions there for himself. Over the coming week, Nathaniel will be a guest contributor to the editor’s blog. His diary, opinions and experiences will provide a valuable glimpse into what life is like for many thousands of displaced people in Chad.
Actor Nathaniel Parker, together with documentary maker Paul Welsh, recently visited Chad with Concern Worldwide.
Having helped to front the Disaster Emergencies Committee’s Darfur and Chad Crisis Appeal, Nathaniel went to Chad to see the conditions there for himself. Over the coming week, Nathaniel will be a guest contributor to the editor’s blog. His diary, opinions and experiences will provide a valuable glimpse into what life is like for many thousands of displaced people in Chad.
MyAsiaSpace is an innovative online photo competition for young people.
For the past weeks, the real experiences of life in the camps in Darfur have been relayed to us by two children living there. With the help of a facilitator, Rashid aged 12 and Ruqia aged 11, have told us their stories.
Concern Worldwide is attempting to get essential supplies to vulnerable families in western Darfur. An estimated 2.5 million people have been displaced by the conflict in Darfur, and the numbers are growing, with new families needing help every day.
The tsunami in the Indian Ocean on December 26th 2004 killed over 230,000 people and devastated coastal communities. Two years on, Concern is finishing its rehabilitation work, on time and having spent all funds raised.
Working with local partners in remote parts of Nepal Concern is ensuring that communities have a steady supply of clean water and that diarrhoea and other water-borne illnesses are reduced.
Rates of those living with HIV are still on the increase. As a result Concern is increasing their HIV&AIDS programming. We aim to involve people infected or affected by HIV&AIDS in all aspects of our programmes and are especially conscious of supporting vulnerable children.
In Niger, chronic poverty, crop damage, and locust infestation have resulted in crippling food shortages for many families. In response, Concern has mounted an emergency nutrition program and also a long-term health program which have benefited over 20,000 families.
Up to 1.8 million people have been affected by flooding in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, which earlier this year were devastated by drought and food shortages. The regular support of our donors meant that we had the capacity to respond immediately to this emergency.
We are delighted to report that many schools have been busy organising fundraising activities in recent weeks and we have received over £90,000 to date, which is fantastic news.
The recent rains in the Horn of Africa have been more favourable than anticipated giving local communities hope for respite from the recent drought. Our emergency work continues and longer term livelihoods programmes are also now being established.
When an earthquake killed 73,000 people and left more than 3 million homeless in Pakistan last October, our supporters' generous response allowed us to respond quickly.
20 month old Saratou was very sick and weighed just 4.1kg when she was admitted to Concern's stabilisation centre in Tahoua, Niger in July. She has since made a dramatic recovery thanks to Concern’s life saving emergency nutrition programme.
Many decades of violence in the DRC has led to millions of people being displaced from their homes. Concern is currently working in the Katanga province to help thousands of families return to their homes and rebuild their lives.
Six years ago, world leaders sat down and agreed to end poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. On October 15th and 16th, people across the world will Stand Up to remind them of this promise.
The effects of last year’s food crisis are still being felt by many in Niger. Concern is providing food and medical assistance to vulnerable families and has so far helped over 50,000 people.
Coin Art is increasingly becoming a popular FoodAid fundraising activity. Read more here.
Moeurn Toch and her family live in Cambodia. In the past they have faced severe food shortages but since getting involved in Concern Worldwide’s programme things have improved dramatically.
Schools support of FoodAid’05 ensured that Goodboy Nkhata from Malawi, pictured here, and many others were provided with the vital support that was needed.
Despite recent rains the food shortages in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are far from over.
Lyndall Stein, Concern Worldwide's Executive Director, returns from Kenya where the rains have begun.
