UN Frees Funds for Mali Drought Victims

By Ivy Mungcal // 06 April 2010
A farmer in Gundam, Mali, lost his entire millet field to the locust infestation and drought that has plagued the country for the past years. The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund recently released funds to help affected farmers and other vulnerable people in one of heaviest-hit city of Mali. Photo by: Yene T. Belayneh/USAID

The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund released some USD4.3 million for drought victims in the city of Kida in Mali. UNICEF will receive USD4 million of the funds as support for its ongoing water supply rehabilitation project in the area. This project aims to improve access to water of some 15,000 vulnerable people in the city. Meanwhile, the remaining USD300,000 will be used by the World Food Program to deliver food aid to more than 10,000 people and water to livestock affected by the dry spell in Mali.