Act Now! Government is matching funds until September 16!
The Canadian government will set aside funds to match donations from individuals into an East African Drought Relief Fund until September 16, which will be administered separately by CIDA. Please give now to double overall support for East Africa. Thank you for your generosity!
OTTAWA—The federal government has committed $50 million in emergency aid for people suffering from famine in East Africa and will match donations from Canadians.
“Canadians have a history of generosity and willingness to help those in need, and our government has a strong record of support for Africa,” International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda said in a news release issued as she visited the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya on Friday.
The Canadian International Development Agency will provide an additional $50 million in humanitarian aid to the Horn of Africa region, where the United Nations declared a famine in Somalia earlier this week.
Half of that will go to the World Food Program, with the other $25 million going to other UN agencies and non-government organizations providing other types of aid, such as nutrition, water and sanitation.
The newly announced money is on top of the $22.35 million that CIDA has already provided to the region this year.
The Conservative government is also creating the East Africa Drought Relief Fund to match donations made by Canadians to eligible charities retroactively from July 6 to Sept. 16 this summer.
Oxfam Canada welcomed the announcement, as it exceeded the $40 million the aid organization believed would represent Canada’s fair share of the $1 billion the UN said was required.
Its executive director Robert Fox said he was also encouraged by the commitment to match contributions from Canadians, who have recently been showing a bigger interest in the issue and consequently digging into their wallets to help out.
“The response from Canadians initially was slow, but we see it building day by day and we’re quite encouraged by that, because there is no question that the scale of this disaster is huge and the need for emergency urgent action is huge,” said Fox. “We’re encouraged both by the growing public response and particularly by the government’s commitment to match those contributions.”