U.N. Warns of Dire Rise in Refugees From Syria

The top United Nations refugee official told the Security Council on Wednesday that the number of registered Syrians who had fled their homeland for safety elsewhere in the region could surpass one million by next month — much sooner than expected — and that the Syrian conflict threatens to overwhelm the international response. (..) “We are facing a moment of truth in Syria,” the official, António Guterres, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, told the Council. “The humanitarian situation is dramatic beyond description. The refugee crisis is accelerating at a staggering pace.” The other speakers were Valerie Amos, under secretary general and emergency relief coordinator, and Zainab Hawa Bangura, a former health minister of Sierra Leone, appointed by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last year as the United Nations’ special representative on sexual violence in conflict.

Aid Worker Diaries - Lesotho: “We saw incredible joy when CARE provided help”

The small kingdom of Lesotho is experiencing a severe food crisis for many months. (..) At the beginning of February we also distributed cash vouchers so the most vulnerable people could buy food in the markets, and we saw people dancing because they would be able to buy some maize and corn. We also use these distributions as an opportunity to educate men and women about the dangers of violence in the homes or of young women having to sell the only thing they have left – their bodies – so that they can eat. (..) CARE will continue distributing vouchers and we plan to distribute cash to 2,000 together with the World Food Program (WFP) to the most vulnerable households following their participation in a number of environmental rehabilitation activities.

How to build resilience in the Sahel

After three droughts in seven years in the Sahel, governments, humanitarian organisations and donors have been asking how to help the region get out of this cycle of crises. The nearly universal solution proposed is summed up in the word "resilience": the ability of families, households or communities to absorb shocks, such as drought in the case of the Sahel. (..) The World Bank, with the World Food Programme and Unicef, is working on how to expand safety nets in the Sahel.

Water-hungry Indian villagers find new reservoirs of solidarity

Here in Rajasthan (India) as in parts of Ethiopia, lack of water is the big problem. (..) In common with approaches tried by donors such as the World Food Programme in Ethiopia, Eficor asked the villagers what their priorities were. Water – or lack of it – was, unsurprisingly, a key concern. Farmers in Rajasthan have land, but often leave areas uncultivated because of the lack of water.