By most measures, Sudan is enduring the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and the few people able to provide aid inside the war-affected, closed-off nation are local responders. So why not give these local frontliners aid money that would typically go to larger organizations, which for the most part are stuck on the sidelines unable to mount a large-scale response?
That’s the rationale behind the Coalition for Mutual Aid in Sudan, an initiative spearheaded by 15 philanthropies such as the Gates Foundation and other organizations to channel at least $2 million in direct and flexible emergency grants to vetted mutual aid groups in Sudan by the end of this year and generate a minimum of $4.5 million more from peer philanthropies over the next two years.
Patricia McIlreavy, president of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, a coalition member, says that what’s happening in Sudan mirrors in many ways what happens in all kinds of disasters — whether in California or Louisiana: communities on the ground helping each other.
About the author
Anna Gawel
Anna Gawel is the Managing Editor of Devex. She previously worked as the managing editor of The Washington Diplomat, the flagship publication of D.C.’s diplomatic community. She’s had hundreds of articles published on world affairs, U.S. foreign policy, politics, security, trade, travel and the arts on topics ranging from the impact of State Department budget cuts to Caribbean efforts to fight climate change. She was also a broadcast producer and digital editor at WTOP News and host of the Global 360 podcast. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Maryland in College Park.
