Africa-Press – Cape verde. A group of citizens, residents of the country and the diaspora is promoting a sponsorship campaign to support needy families with people with disabilities and isolated elderly people, with monthly basic food baskets. The objective is to combat food insecurity resulting from price inflation and drought, ensuring adequate and dignified food.
GACSA – Civic Action Group for Food and Nutrition Security is launching a sponsorship campaign for vulnerable families in Cape Verde, to which it will offer a monthly basic food basket. The target is needy families with people with disabilities and isolated elderly people.
The successive droughts and the increase in the prices of basic necessities, as we know, due to the war in Ukraine, are having a great impact on the living conditions of many families, with 30% of the population in Cape Verde at the moment, lives in a situation of acute food insecurity.
Engaging “much more” with the Diaspora
Ângela Coutinho, a well-known Cape Verdean historian and researcher and spokesperson for the group, explained to A NAÇÃO online how the idea of moving forward with this solidarity initiative came about.
“After the beginning of the war in Ukraine, and following articles that appeared in the national written press and debates in the National Assembly, concern began to be generated in relation to the situation faced by our countrymen in the archipelago, with regard to food security. ”, he expressed.
Thus, taking advantage of a work trip to Cape Verde, at the beginning of June, Ângela Coutinho made some contacts with “friends” in Praia and Mindelo, but also with national and international authorities, to have a “better perception” of the problem and think of group actions that could be triggered, “involving much more” the Diaspora.
FAO’s troubling response
“Following a very worrying response from the FAO office, other contacts were quickly made, and the elements of the Group began to meet informally but regularly, through digital platforms, seeking to discuss ways to reinforce and/or complement the actions already implemented on the ground and those that have meanwhile been announced by the Government”.
It was then decided that it was necessary, first of all, to listen to the communities, in order to know the “real” situation experienced by the families.
“The members of the group in Cape Verde were also quickly received by representatives of institutions at an international, governmental, local level, associations and religious institutions, with whom impressions were exchanged and ideas were discussed”, he explains.
As for the members residing in the Diaspora, in turn, as he clarifies, they made contacts to hear the reception of the idea of a “wider and more concerted” intervention involving the entire Cape Verdean civil society, resident and non-resident, in the country. .
It was then that they decided to go ahead with the first project, of an emergency nature, of direct food support to the most vulnerable families, in the municipalities identified by the institutions as being the most affected by acute food insecurity.
It was also decided that families with disabled members and those with isolated elderly people would be sponsored.
What does it consist of?
According to our interviewee, a monthly basic basket will be delivered to families with disabilities or isolated elderly people, in the municipalities most affected by acute food insufficiency.
That is, Porto Novo, São Domingos, Ribeira Grande de Santiago, Santa Cruz, Praia and São Vicente. “We will, of course, try to expand our action, depending on the support that this initiative has”, he says.
The content of each basic basket, he says, was prepared based on data provided by FAO, and on the opinions of a doctor and a nutritionist, both Cape Verdean.
“On an operational level, we will collaborate with the local authorities (municipal councils), with the various NGOs and religious institutions that are already active in the field”.
In practice, each municipality will have a Local Group of volunteers who will be in charge of acquiring and delivering basic food baskets to families.
Selection of beneficiaries
Regarding the selection of beneficiaries, Ângela explains that they are working with associations that have an action aimed at this layer. “We will select the families already identified, which have less economic resources, in the aforementioned municipalities”.
The campaign to attract godfathers and godmothers started precisely this week and there are already a lot of people engaged.
“We already have a partnership with the Federation of Cape Verdean Organizations in Portugal and also with community radio stations in the United States of America, which will collaborate with us. In Cape Verde, we already have several people who have expressed their interest in supporting and who are becoming godfathers and godmothers within the scope of this project”, he congratulates himself.
As he explains, with regard to funds, the rules of “transparency in the management of funds of international organizations” were adopted.
The idea, he says, is to sponsor “the maximum number of families we can”, and extend this emergency action to all islands and municipalities, as soon as possible.
That, he says, will “depend on each and every one of us who wants to get involved”.
Appeal
“We ask our fellow citizens, in the country and in the diaspora, to become godfathers or godmothers of one of these families. We believe that if we are together, each one collaborating with what we can, we can help preserve the human dignity of our fellow citizens, and we will feel more reinforced and confident, as a Nation”.
Ângela Coutinho recalls that “Cape Verdeans have not faced such a serious situation for decades” so it is necessary to “extend a helping hand” to those who are “most fragile” to face difficulties.
It recalls that family and community solidarity between the islands and between the Diaspora and the archipelago is “at the basis of our Culture and our survival strategies, over the centuries”, calling for the engagement of all.
The group assumes itself as independent at the partisan level and includes several citizens from different quarters of society.
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