Dubai: The ‘100 Million Meals’ campaign’s food parcels distribution has been complete in Tanzania, Kenya and Senegal, providing more than 750,000 meals to low-income individuals and families, it was announced on Monday.
In collaboration with the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment (MBRCH) and the local authorities and charities, parcels of easy-to-store food items, including rice, flour, oil, and sugar, were distributed to empower beneficiaries to prepare their own meals. One food parcel sustains a family of five for one month.
The ‘100 Million Meals’ campaign operations continue across the world as part of the objectives to provide food support in 30 countries on four continents.
Ibrahim Mohammed Bu Melha, adviser to Ruler of Dubai for Cultural and Humanitarian Affairs and deputy chairman of the Board of Trustees of MBRCH, said: “The ‘100 Million Meals’ campaign, which delivers food support to communities in need across 30 countries, reflects the values of kindness and generosity which are deeply-embedded in the fabric of the UAE’s society. Philanthropy and taking the initiative to help people across the world regardless of race, colour or nationalities, have been at the core of the UAE’s philosophy.”
Coordination with the UAE’s embassies
Sultan Mohammed Al Shamsi, assistant minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for International Development Affairs, said: “The UAE’s embassies and diplomatic missions abroad, in coordination with local authorities and charity organisations, play a vital role in the success of field and logistical operations to deliver the food aid provided by the 100 Million Meals campaign.”
In coordination with the UAE Embassy in Dar es Salam in Tanzania, 240,000 meals were distributed in the Wete district on Pemba Island, Makonde and Bangui districts on Unguja Island in Zanzibar, as well as in the Kigoma Region. The UAE Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, supported the distribution of 342,000 meals in the capital, as well as in the Mombasa, Asilia, Wajir, and Lamu regions, while the UAE Embassy in Senegal’s Dakar coordinated with Al Wasaat Charity Association, to distribute 172,800 meals in Tivawan and Gombe.
30 beneficiary countries
The ‘100 Million Meals’ campaign provides food support, in cooperation with local charity and humanitarian organisations in the 30 beneficiary countries, including Sudan, Yemen, Tunisia, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Angola, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Senegal, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Burundi, Benin, Kosovo, and Brazil.
Challenge and response
The campaign is a practical response to the global challenge of hunger and malnutrition that has doubled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, threatening 821 million people around the world. The campaign falls under the Humanitarian Aid and Relief pillar, one of the five main pillars of the work of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives.
Doubling the target
The campaign, organised by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, in cooperation with the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment, the UN World Food Programme, and the Food Banking Regional Network, as well as local humanitarian and charity organisations in the beneficiary countries, ended earlier in May with raising donations to provide 216 million meals, more than double its target, across 30 countries.
