NEW YORK -- The current crisis in Niger, where 3.6 million people are at risk of starvation, shows how badly prepared the country is to respond to the emergency. The food shortage is affecting 800,000 children under age five in some 3,815 villages. Acute malnutrition rates have risen to 13.4 percent in the southern part of the country and 2.5 percent of this group is severely malnourished. A new initiative by the U.N. Millennium Project and the Japanese government could help avoid this kind of situation in the future.
The project, called "Millennium Villages," will be located across a wide range of agro-ecological zones, each presenting a different challenge to poverty reduction. The goal of the initiative is to promote human and food security by empowering African villages to implement integrated rural-development strategies.
The way in which international aid is provided is critical if it is going to be effective and make a difference in the lives of the poor. The Millennium Villages initiative is designed as an escape from the poverty trap and as a way to allow villagers to lead healthy and economically productive lives.