This blog post was written by Rachel Lindley, our CEO, and Megan Henderson, our Communications & Events Manager.
Beans being sold in a market in Aru, DR Congo.
Across the UK there is a cost of living crisis - many people are worried about paying for their heating and groceries over the coming winter. The cost of living crisis here has been both caused and exacerbated by COVID, Brexit, rising fuel and energy costs and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But these issues aren’t exclusive to the UK and have had impacts the world over.
Last week many in the UK watched in horror as the ‘mini budget’ saw the pound plummet to record lows. While we respect that this is a difficult reality for many people in the UK, this too has impacts the world over. Five Talents was doubly gripped by what this meant for our partners and Savings Group members.
Our partners and members have already faced a challenging year - they have endured droughts and floods which have been some of the worst on record. Their petrol and food prices have skyrocketed, some doubling in a matter of months.
Drought often creates food scarcity and shortages as cattle and crops suffer, which drives food prices up. But the invasion of Ukraine has also driven costs up even higher as it created further shortages. Fortunately, Savings Group members have their savings to fall back on. But we have to wonder: what happens for communities where there is no Savings Group and there is no safety net of savings? That’s why we’re determined to reach more communities in the coming months, so that more families will be able to build their resilience to the ongoing crises.
But the falling pound has made our work harder. Of course our partners produce their budgets in their own currencies, but when Five Talents signs grant agreements with them, we always agree on the amounts of funding we will be sending in pounds. We do this to better manage our fundraising efforts, and typically the conversion does work in our partners’ favour. However, the grants we’re sending this month buy far fewer Kenyan shillings or Burundian francs than they did a few weeks ago. Our partners are facing a double challenge - their grants are worth less but their costs have gone up.
We had budgeted to send around £200,000 to our partners around the world in this final Quarter of the year. We are now seeking to raise 10% more, an extra £20,000, so that we can ‘top up’ the grants to our partners and offset, to some extent, the double impact of rising costs and falling (real terms) income.
Having a safety net of savings, a safe place to access financial resources and training, and a community support network are absolutely essential in communities enduring this crisis and the next. We know Savings Groups are part of the solution. With your support, our partners will continue reaching more families throughout this global crisis.
If you feel able to help us with our ‘top up’ goal please visit fivetalents.org.uk/donate.