GRC partners with Corporate Citizens to confront the issue of Hunger

Oct 13, 2011 News

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Int’l Day for Risk Reduction…

 

Fifteen communities across the country will benefit from a new Caribbean Community Resilience to Disaster Risk Project. This project will provide the necessary training to help communities to be better prepared to manage disaster risks, according to the Guyana Red Cross Society (GRCS) communication officer, Kerensa Singh.
This is in recognition of “International Day for Risk Reduction” which is being observed today by the GRCS.
According to Ms Singh, the organisation continues to intensify its work with the vulnerable in the society.
She said that the project will also promote livelihood protection (against disasters) It is being implemented with the full support of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) through the Canadian Red Cross and in close collaboration with the Civil Defence Commission and Ministry of Local Government.
Singh explained that the Guyana Red Cross has also been deepening its collaboration with local organisations and corporate partners to make food supplies available each month for those most in need. “This is done through our Meals on Wheels Programme and Wellness Clinics.”
Additionally, she noted that the GRCS, in partnership with Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), will be piloting the Climate Change Awareness modules in communities. These modules have been developed as part of CDEMA’s CDM Strategy and aim at promoting awareness of the local impacts of climate change within our communities, and what actions can be taken. This will be done through support from the British High Commission.
These efforts by the GRCS are in direct alignment with the humanitarian goals of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), which recently released its World Disasters Report placing emphasis on Hunger and Malnutrition.
“The launch of the Report coincides with the United Nations commemoration of International Day for Risk Reduction, with special attention being paid to children and young people. In Guyana, our challenge is one of working in communities, both rural and urban, to address issues of increased need for education and information in order to help build resilience; to look at related food security initiatives; to reduce effects of poverty and to address the need to distribute the wealth of our country more equitably”, says Guyana Red Cross Director General, Dorothy Fraser.
“Our programmes therefore include those that reduce the degree of risk faced by the vulnerable in times of natural disasters and economic uncertainty”.
The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises the Right to Food as fundamental to all. In 2005, the United Nations convened a forum of more than 100 governments to address this and other rights that could be adversely affected by natural disasters.
Unfortunately, this year, in a world of seven billion people, rich with resources and enough food to feed ten billion, some one billion people still go to bed every night without having had enough to eat.
Although the IFRC Disaster Report shows that the Caribbean people have been feeding themselves better, across the region, millions of poor remain extremely vulnerable to environmental and economic shifts.
Recognising the need, Red Cross organisations in the Caribbean have responded in a serious way to global priorities through community programmes, training and provision of relief materials. Unfortunately, the poor, the farmers, women and children remain at a disadvantage in their ability to manage rising food prices, the effects of climate change on food production and the unequal distribution of resources.
For the future, the Red Cross movement therefore remains on the alert, strengthening its ability to educate and empower.
Next year, the GRCS looks towards increasing and building corporate partnerships to further enhance and expand, three programmes that are directly linked to “Hunger and Malnutrition”, these being the Meals on Wheels, Children’s Convalescent Home and Wellness Clinics.
It is the expectation of GRCS that these efforts will be more fully supported by corporate citizens. In the words of IFRC Secretary General, Bekele Geleta, the Red Cross network here and across the Caribbean continues to take “Decisive and sustained actions … for a world free of hunger and malnutrition. It is possible.”
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest volunteer-based humanitarian network, reaching 150 million people each year through its 186 member National Societies.
Caribbean Nations are served by the Caribbean Regional Office based in Trinidad and Tobago.

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