A group of 28 aid organisations in Burkina Faso has called for an urgent increase in funding to tackle hunger crisis in the country.
Save the Children, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Plan International, Oxfam, Première Urgence Internationale, Terre des Hommes, World Vision, COOPI, Christian Aid, Geneva Call, Help, Humanité and Inclusion, Action Contre la Faim, ALIMA, and CECI are some of the organisations.
Others are CIAUD, Concern Worldwide, Danish Refugee Council (DRC), IEDA Relief, INTERSOS, International Rescue Committee (IRC), LVIA, Lutheran World Relief, Médecins du Monde, Médicos del Mundo, Secours Islamique France, Solidarités International, and Welthungerhilfe.
They said nearly one in ten people in the country have lost their homes due to conflict, with the rate of severe food insecurity nearly doubling compared to 2021.
‘Too often, displacement and hunger come as a one-two punch’, Country Director for the NRC, Hassane Hamadou, said in a joint statement.
‘People forced to move have left behind their fields and livestock. Many displaced families report being down to one meal a day in order to allow children to eat twice. Recent waves of displacement only heighten the urgency to act’.
The displacement crisis in Burkina Faso remains one of the three fastest growing in the world as the multiplication of violent attacks has driven more people to flee between January and July 2022 than during the entire 2021.
‘We now see more and more people forced to flee not from their hometowns, but increasingly from places where they had previously sought refuge’, Director of Humanity and Inclusion, Philippe Allard, said.
For their part, Save the Children noted how the crisis is severely impacting children mentally and physically.
‘Each new displacement increases their vulnerability, and chips away at their resources and mental health’, the organisation’s Country Director for Burkina Faso, Benoit Delsarte, said.
‘For children, who make up for the majority of the displaced, leaving their home behind is traumatic enough but having to flee again and again while trying to survive robs families of any chance to rebuild their lives’.
Photo source: NRC
