By Abdi Ali
Published April 24, 2020
Two Goodwill Ambassadors for International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), United Nations’ specialised agency on rural development, have launched a global coronavirus relief fund to prevent economic shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic from triggering a global hunger and food crisis.
The artists–British actor, filmmaker and humanitarian Idris Elba and his wife, actress, model and activist Sabrina Dhowre Elba–on behalf of IFAD, launched the US$200 Million initiative on April 20, 2020.
With US$40 million in seed money from IFAD, the multi-donor COVID-19 Rural Poor Stimulus Facility aims to raise at least an additional US$200 million from governments, foundations and the private sector to lessen the impact of COVID-19 on rural small-scale farmers and producers.
RELATED: Learning-by-Doing Experience Charts My Career Path
The Facility seeks to help them continue to grow their crops, keep their businesses open and maintain access to financial services and markets as their countries go into lockdown and movements are restricted.
The Facility is said to be part of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for urgent and coordinated actions across the UN system in support of putting an end to the global pandemic and reducing its economic and social consequences.
RELATED: Looking Beyond Nairobi’s 100th Premier Critical Movie Meeting
“Developing countries are already particularly vulnerable to this pandemic as a health crisis. Unless we act now and act quickly, this will also become a major food and hunger crisis,” says Gilbert F Houngbo, President of IFAD. “COVID-19 confirms what we know from Ebola, SARS and other crises: that our world is one world, and that the impact of disease, climate change, poverty, hunger and inequality cannot be contained within a country or region. The ripple effects touch us all – but have an especially devastating impact on those already poor and hungry. We need to invest in them and keeping food systems running through this pandemic, so that the world’s most vulnerable people can still feed their families and earn an income.”
The Elbas, designated on April 20, 2020 as UN Goodwill Ambassadors for IFAD, visited IFAD-supported projects in rural Sierra Leone in December 2019. During their visit, they heard from farmers and representatives of rural communities who had received support from IFAD during the Ebola epidemic. At that time, IFAD-supported farmer banks were the sole providers of banking and financial services in affected areas. Their assistance helped the rural economy rebound so that farmers could continue to feed their families and local communities.
RELATED:United Nations and Commonwealth Sign Collaboration Agreement
Speaking about their trip, Sabrina Dhowre Elba said: “This crisis has shown us we are only as safe as our most vulnerable people. It is in all our interests to keep local food systems going, protect rural communities and mitigate a health crisis as people who lose their jobs in the city head back to rural areas. The IFAD-run projects we saw in Sierra Leone give us hope that, with the right assistance, vulnerable rural people worldwide will be able to get through this difficult time.”
On his part, Idris Elba said: “The world’s advanced economies are in the midst of this pandemic right now and, of course, they must do everything they can to help their own people. Every death is one death too many at a time like this. But the fact is, global action is also a matter of self-interest. As long as the pandemic is still raging anywhere, it will pose a threat everywhere. IFAD needs more assistance to carry on the work that is desperately needed to keep food systems operating in rural areas if we are to come out of this crisis together and avoid needless hunger and suffering.”
RELATED: Anti-Human Trafficking Child Protection Unit Opens in Kenya
IFAD, that says it has seen that food prices are rising while productivity and household incomes are falling, says it is already helping in securing food supply chains in various countries by ensuring farmers can access seeds and other inputs and facilitating the purchase and storage of produce; and working with governments to keep transport routes open to farmers so they can sell their goods.
Rural areas, IFAD says, are home to nearly 80 per cent of the world’s poorest people, as well as the majority of the world’s hungriest people.
