Attachments
Planned Budget Cuts by Governing Coalition Send Wrong Message, Put Progress Toward Ending Hunger at Risk
Bonn/Berlin, July 16, 2024. Welthungerhilfe is urgently warning against further cuts to funding for long-term measures to fight hunger and poverty or for assistance to enable people experiencing humanitarian emergencies to survive. Presenting Welthungerhilfe’s annual report for 2023, Marlehn Thieme, the chair of its board, makes the point that development cooperation has not only made a better life possible for millions of people but also serves as the foundation of our stability and security.
“The German federal government’s current budget proposal sends the wrong message to people who have refused to give up despite all the challenges they face and who want to change things for their families and communities. Programs at risk include ones for vocational education that enable young people to earn an independent income, which is especially valuable for girls and women. The planned cuts endanger successful anti-hunger programs that have so far enjoyed the support of the German government, as we fully acknowledge,” emphasizes Marlehn Thieme.
Welthungerhilfe is also drawing attention to the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Sudan, where the world’s largest famine has set in after 15 months of war. “With so many emergencies occurring around the world, the fate of the people there is at risk of being forgotten. Political pressure must urgently be brought to bear on the belligerent parties and their supporters in order to put an end to the fighting and ensure that the people going hungry can be reached,” urges Mathias Mogge, the chief executive officer of Welthungerhilfe.
In 2023, Welthungerhilfe had access to EUR 323.2 million for projects to fight hunger and poverty, having received EUR 87.7 million in private donations and EUR 266.5 million from public donors. A good 50 percent of the public grants came from German federal sources; the largest single donor was the Federal Foreign Office at EUR 59.2 million, followed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development at EUR 58.8 million and the World Food Programme at EUR 55.7 million. As in the last year, the highest amounts of project funding went to South Sudan, Ukraine, and Syria/Türkiye.
Simone Pott
Team Communications
+49 (0)172 2525 962