Last Wednesday, the World Bank announced it would provide more than $1.6 billion to Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, Southern Sudan and Yemen to fight hunger. More than 20 million people are to benefit from the facility.

“Our first priority is to work with partners to make sure that families have access to food and water. We are working towards a financial package of more than $1.6 billion to build social protection systems, strengthen economic reliance, and maintain service delivery to the most vulnerable,” said World Bank’s president, Jim Yong Kim.

“This package includes over $870 million worth of existing projects which will help fight hunger. I am also working with the bank’s board of directors to secure the approval of new operations amounting to 770 million dollars, funded substantially through the International Development Association (IDA) Crisis Response Window,” Kim said.

World Bank will work tightly with the UN and calls the international community to tackle the “deep roots of instability and help countries boost institutional and society resiliencies”.

Fiacre E. Kakpo