By Eric Mbadinga
When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. So goes a powerful and poignant proverb in Swahili that reflects how a scramble for funding affects food aid in Africa and many other parts of the world.
A few weeks ago, the World Food Programme (WFP) acknowledged having difficulty meeting the world's growing need for food aid. The UN agency explained that this was due to a funding shortfall of more than 60% this year, the highest in its history.
"For the first time, the WFP has seen its contributions fall at a time when needs have been steadily increasing," the agency said, highlighting the budgetary constraints resulting from a drop in contributions from multiple sources.
The funding challenge is especially consequential for Africa, where several countries need aid to feed their impoverished millions.
Djaouns Mandjiagar, the WFP's regional adviser for communication and advocacy and spokesperson for West and Central Africa, saw it coming.
"To better understand the underfunding problem that WFP is experiencing, we must consider the global economic context," he told TRT Afrika.
"Since the pandemic, many governments worldwide have been experiencing an economic crisis, both exogenous and endogenous.
As a logical consequence, some of our donors have been unable, in recent times at least, to provide the necessary support that has often served our cause well.
"The head of the organisation, Cindy McCain, made a statement last month emphasising "the urgent need for additional funding, at the risk of seeing 24 million people added to the 40 million already considered to be in a food emergency".
Growing mismatch
Mandjiagar said the current global situation could be explained by the fact that consumption constantly increases while resources dwindle daily.
In July 2023, 45% of aid recipients in Syria and a quarter of those on the WFP list in Haiti had to be excluded. The same applies to Somalia, where 4.7 million people lost access to food aid from the UN agency last year.
In West Africa, the implications are reflected in the fact that several operations are directly affected.
"In Burkina Faso, for example, the WFP has had to reduce food aid assistance since late 2021, halving resources for at least 800,000 people," Mandjiagar said.
Burkina Faso is not an isolated case in this readjustment of food aid in Africa. In the case of the Central African Republic, the WFP had to reduce the food ration intended for displaced people and people affected by food insecurity by 25% of the food they were due to receive.
Chad is also on the list of countries whose original or displaced populations have seen their share of food aid decline. "Chad has been receiving many Sudanese refugees since last April.
These people are in addition to many former displaced people. Unfortunately, faced with this exponential increase in needs, the programme has no resources," Mandjiagar said.
Pared expectations In the WFP's aid distribution centres, the vocabulary has changed. Workers no longer speak of food rations. The new coinage is "half rations".
Faced with the increasing flow of refugees and people affected by food insecurity, mainly in Mali and Niger, the WFP has provided half rations to people in need since 2021 due to the lack of resources.
The problem of underfunding faced by well-known NGOs such as the WFP has raised questions about how local NGOs manage this situation.
In Cameroon, the Centre d'Appui au Développement local participatif Intégré (CADEPI), an NGO incorporated under Cameroonian law, continues its efforts even in these "lean times".
The NGO, which has 40 active members, steps up its activities in a rather unusual way.
While the most popular approach to fighting hunger is distributing food, CADEPI's primary focus is improving local people's access to natural resources like water and arable land fairly and sustainably.
The NGO operates in the three northern regions of Cameroon — Adamaoua, Nord and Extrême-Nord.
In these regions, CADEPI supports agricultural production by making improved seeds and inputs available, promoting market gardening and organising capacity-building sessions.
The Cameroonian NGO is also working to restore pastures and set up pastoral infrastructure for livestock farmers.
CADEPI uses a participatory and community-based approach to support beneficiaries in preventing and combating famine.
This approach enables local people to participate actively in the actions, resulting in ownership and adoption of the activities and objectives.
"Emphasis is placed on local people's capacity to capitalise on sound production and harvest management practices.
This approach is making a significant contribution to strengthening people's resilience in the face of famine," the head of the NGO, Khari Boukar, told TRT Afrika.
Beyond funding
At a time when even organisations such as the WFP are finding it challenging to finance their actions to combat famine, the Cameroonian NGO says that its primary resource for more than 20 years has been its determination and commitment.
"Resilience is the key in this field, and even in situations where funding is scarce, we try as best we can to achieve our objectives in fighting famine," Boukar said.
"The interplay of famine, poverty, security, and climate change are apparent in the current context. We are trying to fight this battle with the means available, whether material or technical."
To achieve its objectives, CADEPI relies on various sources of funding, including those of the beneficiaries.
"We receive support from the European Union, directly or in partnership with international NGOs. Other funding may also come from the government through its projects financed by various donors," Boukar explained.
Given the challenges, the WFP's West and Central Africa office and African NGOs such as CADEPI have called for more generosity, sensitivity and goodwill from state and private donors.
