Media Advisory: Canadian Donations at Work in the Sahel Region of West Africa

Plan Canada CEO, Rosemary McCarney in Burkina Faso for Food Crisis Update

TORONTO, Sept. 7, 2012 /CNW/ - To date, thousands of Canadians have donated $1.6 million to ease the food crisis unfolding in the Sahel region of West Africa. The donations are enabling Plan Canada and other members of the Humanitarian Coalition to provide lifesaving necessities like clean water and food, and some semblance of normalcy and dignity for some of the nearly 400,000 people living in refugee camps. On August 7, 2012 the Canadian Government announced that it would match Canadians' donations to the food crisis dollar for dollar until September 30, 2012. Now, Rosemary McCarney, Plan Canada's president and CEO, is travelling to Burkina Faso with Minister Julian Fantino on his first international trip as Minister of International Cooperation. Rosemary and the Minister will be in Burkina Faso to see how Canadian donations can and are being used to provide aid to the thousands of Tuareg and Arab refugees from Mali who call the refugee camps "home."

Rosemary can provide firsthand updates for media from the region about current challenges, humanitarian response, and the ways Canadians' donations will help save lives and make a difference.

When:	September 8-12, 2012
Where:	Burkina Faso
Who:	Rosemary McCarney, President and CEO of Plan Canada Rosemary is an international development expert who has worked in more than 100 countries and has more than 20 years of on-the-ground emergency aid experience, including the 1980's famine in Ethiopia and the East African drought and food crisis in 2011. Rosemary can provide reports on the crisis and its impact; updates on humanitarian response in Burkina Faso and other response underway across West Africa; insights about impending risks and evolving conflicts; and can highlight the needs of the people in the region. Rosemary can also talk in more detail about the cyclical nature of drought, the impact it has on children and the challenges Plan and other aid organizations now face in addressing this crisis.
	To date, in Burkina Faso, Plan has provided:
	General support to approximately 48,000 refugees Two bore holes (for drinking water), 130 latrines and 115 showers, in three refugee camps Non-food items for refugees including blankets, mosquito nets, tents, cooking kits, and jerrycans Sixteen primary school classes and five preschool classes, benefitting close to 1,000 children in two Malian refugee camps in Soum Province Psycho-social support to children and secure, child-friendly play spaces for children in two camps in the Soum Province

More than 1.5 million children under five are suffering from acute malnutrition as the food crisis in the Sahel region of West Africa unfolds, and more than 18 million people, almost half of whom are children, are at risk from hunger. Without immediate and continued support from the international community, the Sahel food and refugee crisis threatens to claim hundreds of thousands of lives.

About Plan Canada

Plan is a global movement for change, mobilizing millions of people around the world to support social justice for children in developing countries. Founded in 1937, Plan is now one of the world's oldest and largest international development agencies, working in partnership with millions of people around the world to end global poverty. Not for profit, independent and inclusive of all faiths and cultures, Plan has only one agenda: to improve the lives of children. For more information, visit plancanada.ca

 

SOURCE: Plan Canada

To book an interview with Rosemary McCarney while she's in Burkina Faso, please contact:

Chrystal Boudreau
Hill+Knowlton Strategies
416-413-4648  
Cell 416-300-3060 
[email protected]

or 

Dena Allen
Plan Canada
416-723-6340 
[email protected]