Working together to tackle the triple crisis 

When there is a global crisis, we can sometimes feel the urge to retreat into our small corners and forget about those in need around us. But at Ripple Effect we know that one small deed can go a long way, and that when we leave people to suffer alone those repercussions will come back to us too. We live in a globalised world where we must look after each other if we wish to survive and thrive.

I have been with Ripple Effect a long time and I can say that this is an unprecedented crisis. We have a duty to act, even if what we have is only small. We can share it with those who have less.  

This is an exceptional ask in an exceptional time.    

Farmers have been hit by a triple crisis. First the Covid-19 pandemic, then the global cost of living crisis and now extreme drought caused by the climate crisis.    

For many smallholder farmers in rural Africa, restrictions on movement caused by the pandemic meant that they could not get to local markets to sell their produce, so their businesses crumbled.    

The global cost of living crisis has forced dramatic price rises in all the countries where Ripple Effect works. Here in Ethiopia for example, we have inflation of over 30%. In Rwanda, food inflation is at 59%.

These extreme price rises mean that the poorest who live without a buffer of disposable income are having to go without essentials such as food, clothes and soap. Some families are having to choose who goes hungry each day.   

Add to this the pressures of the climate crisis and you have the makings of the worst hunger crisis in Eastern Africa for 40 years. For example, in Boran, Ethiopia, it hasn’t rained properly for more than three years.  

The window of opportunity to help is short. Farmers must plant before the next growing season, but many of them have lost the seeds they would have saved to plant due to the extreme drought: the crop either failed in the field or was eaten when food was scarce.    

With nothing to plant, families face a summer of deep hunger unless we stand in solidarity with them.

Even in a severe drought, there is always something that can be done to improve farmers’ situations. Whilst we cannot make it rain, we can train people in climate-smart planting techniques and provide drought-resilient seeds.

Solar pumps and rainwater harvesting techniques helps to make the most of what water there is. And our training in composting, mulching and dry season farming techniques reduce dependency on rain-fed agriculture.

Farmers are always better off as part of a Ripple Effect project, no matter how difficult the situation gets.    

Ripple Effect operates differently to emergency aid organisations. Often people find themselves stuck in awful situations due to a skills gap or an education gap. We give farmers the tools and training to mitigate the situations they find themselves in. By donating to us you’re ensuring that farmers can feed themselves now and into the future.   

When the next rainy season comes, we will be there with farmers, helping them to plant food for themselves and plant forage to keep their livestock going.  

Sometimes emergency aid is what’s needed, but too much of this creates a culture of dependency. After a while, people become disempowered waiting for development agencies to give them things, rather than building up their own resources and capabilities.    

The situation we find ourselves in today is not (yet) famine. It is a food crisis, which means that with the right preventative measures, a famine can be averted.    

At Ripple Effect, we give people the means to make their own futures from the land, and find hope in their own capabilities and communities. We help people to really change their mindsets, to find the possibilities in what they have, and use the training that we give to transform their own lives.  

If we don’t act now, the food crisis will deepen over the next few months. Some people will be at risk of dying from starvation, and others will be forced to migrate from their homes. It has never been more important to give farmers the support they need to stay put and make a living from their land.    

From a humanitarian perspective, we have a moral obligation to see that although what we each can offer may be small, if someone is dying out there, we must attend to that person. 

Finally, I’d like to tell you a story about a farmer I met some years ago. He had three children and a wife to provide for, but he had no food at home. He went to the local town to find some casual labour work and send back some money. But because he didn't speak the Amharic language, which is spoken in the towns, he failed.    

The night he came home he looked for a rope to hang himself with. Luckily, his wife saw him and called their neighbours who stopped him.

At this time Ripple Effect were selecting the poorest people in the community to work with. He got involved in a project and implemented all the training. In a year and a half he was producing plenty of food, and had purchased a milking cow. 

Six months later, he purchased another calf and when the government gathered the community for development work, he raised his hand up and said:

“Fellow farmers, when humanitarian aid came over here, you selected me as the poorest of the poor. But now, thanks to Ripple Effect, I have training and I know how to take my family out of poverty.  I kindly ask you to no longer select me as the poorest of the poor. I have graduated myself."

This is the effect of Ripple Effect training. It costs just £30 per year to train and support a family, but that experience can have an incredible effect on people’s lives.