German charity Welthungerhilfe Raises Alarm Over Worsening Global Hunger

Posted by Eric Ojo Europe, Latest Headlines Wednesday, July 13th, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – A frontline charity organization in Germany, Welthungerhilfe has expressed its concern over the current spate of hunger sweeping across the globe.

Welthungerhilfe is one of the largest private aid organizations in Germany. The organization which is politically independent and non-denominational, is striving with courage and determination for a world without hunger.

Since it was founded on December 14, in 1962, 10,895 overseas projects in about 70 countries have been supported with €4.46 billion. Welthungerhilfe works on the principle of help for self-help: from fast disaster relief to reconstruction and long-term development cooperation projects with national and international partner organisations.

The charity warns that the number of hungry people is continuing to rise while at the same time food and transport prices explode, adding that an increasing number of countries are no longer exporting food, thereby exacerbating an existing global hunger crisis.

Food situation in developing and emerging countries, according to Welthungerhilfe, has “deteriorated dramatically” in recent months.

“More and more countries are saying: we’re not letting any more [food] out. That leads to shortages, that drives up prices, and that is very, very bad for the poorest people in this world”, Secretary General of Welthungerhilfe, Mathias Mogge, told German public broadcaster ZDF on Tuesday.

Mogge said the world must ensure that the markets or trading food remain open. He also noted that the big drivers of hunger are conflict and climate change.

He further stated that Welthungerhilfe spent a total of €260 million ($260 million) on projects last year, half of which went to humanitarian aid, and the other half to long-term projects.

The organization also presented its annual report on Tuesday, giving its view on the effect of the Ukraine war, the climate crisis and forced migration on hunger worldwide.

The report stated that in 2021, Welthungerhilfe’s budget stood at 310 million euros. Donations amounted to 77.5 million euros. Public donors provided 229.4 million euros for project work.

It further disclosed that the German government’s share was nearly 50 percent, the largest single donor of which was the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, with 56.7 million euros. South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Turkey received the highest levels of project funding last year.

This year, the charity is also looking back on sixty years of experience, challenges and successes and, despite all setbacks, it is however convinced that hunger can be overcome.

According to the report, the willingness to help and solidarity of the German population was also extraordinarily high in 2021, adding that the organization received the highest level of donations in its 60-year history, and was able to support more than 16 million people.

Lending credence to this, Mogge said: “Private donations are an important incentive and source encouragement for us, because with them we were able to respond to the dramatic food situation and support even more people in need in our project countries, Africa and especially the crisis countries such as South Sudan, Mali and DR Congo which are again the focus of our work. In many countries, people are struggling with the effects of various overlapping crises, and hunger is being used as a targeted weapon. We need to act quickly and decisively – both with short-term survival aid and with long-term investments in agriculture”.