Latest news with #vulnerableCommunities
Zawya
a day ago
- Business
- Zawya
The Republic of Korea supports vulnerable families in Madagascar
The World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a generous contribution of 10,000 metric tons of rice worth US$12.5 million from the Republic of Korea to support the food and nutritional needs of 480,000 vulnerable people in southern Madagascar. The contribution will enable WFP to reach 290,000 people for six months, starting in October, during the upcoming lean season – the period between harvests when families often run out of food stocks. It will also provide school meals to 190,000 students in 586 primary schools from September 2025 to June 2026. The activities will cover ten districts in the Anosy, Androy, Atsimo Andrefana, and Atsimo Atsinanana regions. 'This contribution comes at a critical time for communities facing food insecurity,' said Tania Goossens, WFP Representative in Madagascar. 'Thanks to the Republic of Korea's commitment, vulnerable households will be able to overcome the lean season and thousands of children will receive hot meals in primary school. We sincerely thank the Republic of Korea for their ongoing support and long-standing partnership in Madagascar.' As recurrent climate shocks are aggravating 1.3 million people food insecure in southern and southeastern region, this contribution is especially critical in supporting the most vulnerable communities. 'This donation reaffirms the Republic of Korea's solidarity with the Malagasy people, particularly the most vulnerable children and families in the South affected by climate shocks. We are demonstrating our commitment to collaborating with the Malagasy government, through WFP, in responding to food emergencies and strengthening the school feeding programme' said the Ambassador of ROK in Madagascar HEM. Park Ji-Hyun. Since 2019, the Republic of Korea has provided a cumulative US$30.5 million through various funding mechanisms in support of WFP operations in Madagascar. This strong partnership reflects ROK's growing commitment to combating hunger and strengthening the resilience of vulnerable communities across the country. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Food Programme (WFP).
CTV News
28-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Ontario government exempts disability benefit as income
The Ford government issued a statement today that the Canada Disability Benefit is exempted as income, reports CTV London's Reta Ismail. The Ford government issued a statement today that the Canada Disability Benefit is exempted as income, reports CTV London's Reta Ismail. The Ontario government announced today that the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) will be exempted as income. 'In a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty brough on by US tariffs and trade barriers, our government is taking action to keep costs down and protect Ontario families,' the provincial minister of children, community and social services said in a statement. This decision will help the most vulnerable, the statement continued. People who rely on social assistance will receive the benefit without reduction in their social assistance payments. Currently, the CDB offers a maximum of $200 a month for eligible low-income and working-age Canadians with disabilities.
The National
20-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
The sudden disappearance of aid leaves the most vulnerable in a mess
She received the order and left immediately. There was no handover. No briefing for the local team. No final meeting with the communities she had worked with for years. Just an email, a locked door and an abrupt exit. And if she stayed beyond her official departure time of 30 minutes – to offer any sense of closure – she was penalised, billed per hour. This is how thousands of development programmes are being dismantled in 2025. Not through reform. Not in conversation with those on the ground. But through abrupt withdrawal – shaped by shifting priorities, and felt most by those with the least power. Over the past two decades, donor countries have played a vital role in supporting global development. In 2021, global official development assistance reached a record high of $179 billion, driven by pandemic-related support. But according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, global aid fell by 7.1 per cent in 2024 – the first decrease in five years. In 2025, as global needs continue to rise, deeper cuts, programme cancellations, and funding freezes have pushed many vulnerable communities past the tipping point. Governments have every right to reevaluate spending priorities. The aid system itself has long been in need of reform, to become more sustainable, more equitable and less reliant on models that entrench dependency. Governments in the global south must lead on their own terms – not as subcontractors to donor priorities, but as architects of systems built to withstand volatility. This shift is long overdue. And the question is no longer whether aid can be cut. It is how to ensure that its withdrawal does not dismantle progress because how donor nations exit matters. It wasn't the decision to leave. It was the speed, the disruption, and the absence of co-ordination or continuity that turned strategic adjustments into widespread instability for those already living at the margins. The consequences were swift, measurable, and in many cases, entirely predictable. Local NGOs were left mid-programme, mid-contract, mid-promise and suddenly unable to deliver on years of trust In Sudan, the closure of 30 health centres in Central Darfur left thousands without access to medical care. In Bangladesh, over a million Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar are surviving on half-rations. In Jordan, funding shortfalls threaten the basic livelihoods of 60,000 Syrian refugee families. In Colombia, suspended support forced the closure of youth programmes that once helped stabilise communities recovering from conflict. Local NGOs were left mid-programme, mid-contract, mid-promise and suddenly unable to deliver on years of trust. For communities already living through long-term crises, there was no transition plan, no explanation, only the disappearance of something they had never intended to rely on but had come to depend upon out of necessity. These are not abstract losses. They are the human cost of decisions made from a distance, without the direct involvement of those most affected. We've seen this pattern before. In Haiti, after the cameras moved on. In Uganda, when abrupt health funding cuts triggered a spike in child mortality. In South Sudan, when displacement surged as support dried up. As one 18-year-old student told me: 'It's hard to say you didn't see it coming. The same mistakes keep happening – and we're left managing the consequences of systems we had little role in shaping.' This is not simply a funding issue. Because this wasn't just a reduction in aid. It was the removal of commitment. And while the right to exit exists, how that exit is handled reveals more than a shift in budget. It reflects the values and responsibilities underpinning global co-operation. Exiting without sufficient warning, planning or safeguards risks undermining hard-won progress and shifting the burden onto those least equipped to bear it. Even transition requires intention. Transformation demands coherence, responsibility and foresight. If the future of international co-operation is to remain credible, it cannot be measured only in dollars spent or programmes launched, but in how leaders respond when past commitments no longer align with present realities. The real question is this: when support is withdrawn, who takes responsibility for what is left behind? Until that question is answered, credibility will remain out of reach, replaced by shifting budgets and responsibilities quietly transferred to communities already facing overwhelming challenges. Because in the end, the rights to health, education, safety and dignity are not defined by declarations or ink on paper. They are revealed in the decisions we make, and the consequences we are willing to let others live with.
