Is extreme poverty really a moral outrage? Do we care enough to collaborate and end extreme poverty in our families, in our neighbourhoods, in our communities or in our country?
Did you know that “[e]ven before the pandemic, the 22 richest men in the world had more wealth than all the women [on the African continent?]” – Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General’s
“The observance of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty can be traced back to 17 October 1987. […] Since then, people of all backgrounds, beliefs and social origins have gathered every year on October 17th to renew their commitment and show their solidarity with the poor.
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Through resolution 47/196 adopted on 22 December 1992, the General Assembly declared 17 October as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and invited all States to devote the Day to presenting and promoting, as appropriate in the national context, concrete activities with regard to the eradication of poverty and destitution. The resolution further invites intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to assist States, at their request, in organizing national activities for the observance of the Day, and requests the Secretary-General to take, within existing resources, the measures necessary to ensure the success of the Day’s observance by the United Nations.” – United Nations website
On 23 December, 2020 The Nassau Guardian Online reported that the World Food Programme (WFP) will be supplying food vouchers to about 450 to 500 households, survivors of hurricane Dorian, all throughout Abaco and its cays. The benefactors of this programme are reported to have been assessed in November, 2019.
The WFP describes itself as “… the leading humanitarian organisation saving lives and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies …” “An estimated 2 billion people in the world did not have regular access to …, nutritious and sufficient food in 2019” – UN Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Facts and Figured) Now households in The Bahamas will be added to these statistics as people who do not have regular access to sufficient food.
World Food Programme (WFP) logo Source: WFP’s Facebook page
The WFP’s participation in providing residents of The Bahamas with access to food indicates that The Bahamas’ social net to cover access to food has been exhausted. This is the social net that successive Governments of The Bahamas developed and funded through taxes over the years. It is now inadequate. Our government, our business community, civil society and philanthropist have done all they can to provide relief. Their combined efforts are simply inadequate and cannot meet the total need. No doubt the assistance that will be provided by the WFP and their funders through their food voucher programme and the support being provided by their international partner, Samaritan’s Purse, is welcomed.
This WFP proramme provides an ideal opportunity for relevant Bahamas based and registered non-profit organisations and civil society organistions to build additional capacity by working with the WFP and its partner by jointly organising short training programmes and workshops to facilitate the development and transfer of skills. It is likely that such an initiative will be welcomed by the WFP because they partner with more than 1,000 National and International NGOs to provide food assistance and tackle underlying causes of hunger. If you are asking how this can be done then continue reading.
When international organisations enter countries to provide humanitarian support, they do so based on agreed terms and conditions. I recommend that Civil Society Bahamas as the apex body of civil society organisations, formally request of The Bahamas Government that capacity building opportunities for relevant organisations be included in the said terms and conditions. Building increased capacity in these organisations will equip relevant humanitarian organisations with skills that can facilitate prompt disaster relief following any future natural disasters like hurricanes.
I believe that this is an ideal opportunity for us to partner with the WFP today so that we can better help ourselves tomorrow.
Once again, all the best and do well.
Please feel free to direct any questions or comments to Kean Smith at kean@smithkas.com
