Credit unions across Ireland, in partnership with the Irish League of Credit Unions International Development Foundation (the “ILCU Foundation”), which is the charitable arm of the Irish credit union movement, have pledged €50,000 to help those affected by the severe drought in East Africa.
For many months now, the ILCU Foundation’s development partners that work with credit unions in East Africa have been crying out for help to fighta the third year of drought in a row in the region.
The ILCU Foundation, through contributions from Irish credit unions, will be providing humanitarian assistance to people who are in dire need. This is being carried out in cooperation with Gorta-Self Help Africa (Gorta-SHA) in Ethiopia, and, in Kenya, via Aidlink.
Right now, 12.8 million people in Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Somalia are suffering from extreme food shortages, with many on the brink of famine.
According to the United Nations, “multiple years of diminished food production has exhausted people’s capacity to cope with another shock.”
Gorta-SHA will distribute emergency food and seed aid to households in the Oromia Region of Southern Ethiopia, where several of the ILCU Foundation’s credit union projects are located.
Furthermore, in Turkana in Northern Kenya, with the ILCU Foundation’s financial assistance, Aidlink, through its Kenyan partner, Caritas Lodwar, will distribute prescription food to 3,000 severely malnourished children, with emphasis on those under 5 years of age.
