Four days ago, on March 28, the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors approved a grant worth $3 million US dollars to assist Comoros in its emergency response to parts of the island still suffering from recent devastating floods. The funds are also supposed to help the communities struggling with the impact of the global economic crisis as well as with high food prices.
Under the already established Emergency Crises Response Project, the new grant will support job opportunities for 6,000 people as well as rebuild roads and other needed infrastructure. Since 2010, the project has created 4,000 cash-for-work opportunities, over half of which have been for women. I found this part really interesting.
“The World Bank is continuing to support Comoros as it tackles the lingering effects of a series of crises on poor families,” said Haleh Z. Bridi, World Bank Country Director for Comoros. “Work opportunities created by the Comoros Emergency Crises Response Project are helping to cushion households against a loss of income during difficult times, and to restore basic services to people by rebuilding infrastructure.”
It's good to keep in mind that Comoros only has a population of 680,000 and it's economy is heavily based on food imports and those citizens working abroad that send back funds. This recent flood damage has caused Comoros much setback, especially in its efforts to fight poverty and reduce malnutrition.
From this article I learned about the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) which was established in 1960. Here's some information on it. It may be a good resource to call upon for money/ help when writing resolutions relating to poverty or economic growth.
* The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing loans (called “credits”) and grants for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 81 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change for 2.5 billion people living on less than $2 a day. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 108 countries. Annual commitments have increased steadily and averaged about $15 billion over the last three years, with about 50 percent of commitments going to Africa.
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2013/03/28/world-bank-offers-crisis-grant-comoros-create-jobs-rebuild-infrastructure-damaging-floods
I found this article to be very interesting. It's great that the World Bank has a program aimed at helping poor countries. It would be better if it tried to implement different ways to educate the people of these countries on how to maintain good economic standing, too. I agree with your point that the International Development Association would be a good resource to look at when dealing with funding. We should definitely keep this in mind when working with economic issues, especially those of the developing world.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome to hear that smaller countries like this can receive aide in more difficult times when they are not able to help themselves. It's nice to see things like this in the news to be helping each other rather than to be victimizing one another.
ReplyDeleteComoros gets lots of aid from international organizations such as IMF, World Bank, European Union, and even the United States (USAID). Comoros is pretty dependent on these funds and supports many Western organizations to maintain good relationships with them.
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