East Africa and Sahel: Food Aid
(asked on 4th July 2022) - View Source
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she (a) has made and (b) plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing her Department's funding allocations to (a) East Africa and (b) the Sahel to help prevent famine.
The UK is a major humanitarian donor to the East Africa region, and a committed donor to the Sahel. Between 2019-2021 the UK provided over £160 million in humanitarian aid to the Sahel, and in 2021/2022 we provided more than £230 million to address humanitarian requirements across East Africa.
The UK played a critical role in convening the recent UN Horn of Africa Drought Roundtable which took place in late April in Geneva. This included working with states in the region and the UN to ensure appropriate levels of participation. It helped to bring much needed focus on the drought and mobilised roughly US $400 million in new funding.
My [Minister Ford] recent engagement as the Minister for Africa has included: A ministerial conference on global food security on 24 June; a meeting with the Disasters Emergency Committee to discuss the crisis in East Africa, comprising UK non-governmental organisations (NGOs); and engaging with World Bank President David Malpass.
On 24 June the Prime Minister pledged £372 million in global food security aid, to be allocated along the following lines; £130 million for the World Food Programme, £133 million for research and development partnerships, £52 million for UN's global emergency response fund, £37 million for the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development, £17.7 million through the FCDO's Green Growth Centre of Expertise, £2 million for the Nutrition Match Fund.
The UK will work closely with these organisations including through our network of country-based advisors to ensure that this money is used effectively and that allocations are made accordingly to need, including in the Sahel and East Africa. We continue to monitor the situation and our response closely.