UK public helps Concern Worldwide raise £1.7 million to help world’s hungry impacted by conflict and climate change

The matched funding will go to establish a new project to tackle hunger and build sustainable sources of food in Burundi, East Africa. More than 1.7 million people in the country do not have enough to eat and every other child under the age of five is malnourished.

Alongside partners JCDecaux, Belfast Media Group, Irish Post and St Martin-in-the-Fields, the appeal which ran between September and December 2017 sought to highlight the impact of political instability, conflict and climate change on populations already at the mercy of hunger.

Rose Caldwell, Executive Director of Concern (UK), said:

“We are extremely grateful to everyone who supported our appeal to reduce childhood malnutrition and its underlying causes in fragile places like Burundi. It is only through the generosity of people across the UK that we are able to help ensure a brighter future for the world’s most vulnerable people.”

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said:  “Concern’s work in Burundi focuses on children who are often the most affected by malnutrition in fragile areas of the world. I would like to thank the public for their generosity in helping to raise such a life-changing sum.”

“Every donation made by the public has been matched pound for pound by the UK Government, meaning we have doubled the difference that Concern can make in getting vital food, water and medicine to thousands of children in Burundi.”

The project in Burundi will focus on improving the nutrition and health of 43,000 children under the age of five in Cibitoke, one of the worst-affected areas with high levels of food insecurity. These children represent about half of all under-fives in the province.

Concern will:

• Support around 400 health workers and improve health facilities to ensure the early diagnosis and treatment of malnutrition among young children.
• Train mothers to effectively nurse their children back to health. This includes providing support for families to grow and produce their own food through kitchen gardens.
• Community training to provide understanding of better health, nutrition and hygiene practices to combat malnutrition, under-five mortality and the spread of infectious diseases. As many as 16,800 children will benefit from the training of local women to support their families.

The money will go towards helping children like three-year-old Edmond and his older brother, both of whom are malnourished. The family live in one of Burundi's poorest areas and struggle to eat once a day. Their father Jean-Marie said: “Our situation is so bad, the boys...are not in good health.”

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Notes to editors

Concern Worldwide is an international humanitarian organisation specialising in tackling hunger with the most vulnerable people in the world’s poorest countries. https://www.concern.org.uk

About UK Aid Match:

UK Aid Match was set up by the UK government's Department for International Development (DFID) to give a boost to public support for charities working in the developing world. It doubles public donations to appeals run by UK international development charities, in recognition of both the public’s generosity and the wide range of causes they support. www.gov.uk/uk-aid-match