What is the Belgian Survival Fund?

The Belgian Survival Fund (BSF) was created by the Belgian Parliament in response to the drought and famine that took the lives of more than a million men, women and children in East Africa in the 1980s. BSF provides grants to pay for development projects in some of the poorest countries in Africa , helping extremely poor people to become healthier and more productive and lowering the risk that they will face starvation.

Origins of the Belgian Survival Fund

BSF is the result of a social movement that began in the early 1980s. As increasingly dire news reports warned of the millions of people lying destitute and dying from hunger in the Horn of Africa, pressure mounted to respond. More than 150 parliamentarians urged the European community to take action.

Almost 80 Nobel Prize winners signed the Manifesto Against Hunger. And in Belgium , thousands of citizens and 60 mayors marched in the streets. On 18 March 1983 the Belgian Parliament voted to create the Belgian Survival Fund, to combat hunger in the world's most vulnerable countries.

What is IFAD?

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in developing countries. Through low-interest loans and grants, it develops and finances projects and programmes that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves.