NEWS FROM
LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF
May 3 , 2005
For more information contact Emily Sollie at esollie@lwr.org or 410-230-2802.
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LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF RECEIVES $539,000 GATES FOUNDATION GRANT TO HELP DISPLACED SUDANESE RETURN HOME.
Baltimore, MD, May 3, 2005 - Hopes among more than three million people in Sudan were raised with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord, created to end Africa 's longest-running conflict. Driven from their homes and communities by more than two decades of war there, this massive wave of internally displaced people returning to their home areas raises many challenges in the process. And an urgent need for support.
A grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Lutheran World Relief (LWR) will directly and indirectly benefit an estimated 40,000 people in Sudan, many of whom have little besides the clothes they are wearing.
"Sudan continues to exist on the cusp of a humanitarian crisis of quite daunting proportions," comments Kathryn Wolford, LWR President. "We applaud the Gates Foundation for helping to address the monumental challenges that need immediate attention in Sudan."
Most of the people returning to their home areas have limited, if any, means to engage in economic activity, which increases the resource strain - and inter-group tensions - on existing populations. For these host populations, the impact of the war has also been traumatic, as repeated displacement, inaccessibility of land, chronic insecurity, lack of services and prolonged periods of both drought and flooding have devastated local livelihoods and well-being.
Southern Sudan's rankings for education, literacy, and child malnutrition are among the worst in the world. The region hovers near the bottom in all other social indicators. "As the rate of returning people increases," continues Wolford, "the needs of both populations will continue to overwhelm the current availability of resources." Experts also warn that local authorities simply don't have the capacity to provide these necessary resources. Without immediate assistance from external sources such as governments and non-governmental organizations, the situation will only worsen.
"There is a critical window of opportunity to help avert further suffering among the people of southern Sudan," said Suzanne Cluett, Associate Director of Global Health Strategies at the Gates Foundation. "We're pleased to support Lutheran World Relief, which has led many successful health interventions in crisis situations."
"The $539,000 grant from the Gates Foundation will be combined with $180,000 from LWR emergency monies to fund an intervention designed to meet the immediate and medium-term needs of both returnee and host populations alike," says LWR's Africa Program Director, Evariste Karangwa.
The intervention includes a primary healthcare component that will establish three clinics, distribute medicines and provide staff support, community health worker training and traditional birth attendants. It also will provide shelter and household necessities such as plastic sheeting, blankets, mosquito nets, fishing twine, pots, plates and other related items. Helping people begin to provide food for themselves again, the effort also makes available to farming families vegetable and staple crop seeds, hand tools and agricultural training. "It's a comprehensive approach," adds Karangwa. "It's only limited by the funding we have, in terms of how many people we can assist. The approach is proven; we can only help so many people with each dollar available."
WHO IS LWR? Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, Lutheran World Relief has been responding to emergencies and disasters since its founding in 1945. Working through partners and global relief and development networks, LWR works in 35 countries to provide not only relief but to combat the causes of poverty and restore the dignity it robs from people's lives. We advocate for fair trade that helps farming families earn a better income. We teach people to better care for themselves, their communities and the environment. We teach people how to be less vulnerable to natural disasters. We advocate with them for policy change that more fairly represents them. We counsel them after human and natural disasters, and help them recover with material aid and long-term programs. We do all of this exclusively with partners from the communities we serve.
Funding for LWR's work in Sudan with its partners, Church Ecumenical Action in Sudan and Lutheran World Federation Department for World Service Kenya/Sudan comes from partners in the U.S., such as The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America , parish groups, other organizations, foundations and individuals.
