April 22, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
While news coverage of the financial crisis has focused on problems in the United States and other wealthy nations, its effects are starting to compound social problems in developing countries, said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, managing director of the World Bank.
For example, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 200,000 miners have recently lost their jobs, while in Cambodia, 30,000 garment workers, mostly women, are without work because of closing factories, she told donors and others attending the Global Philanthropy Forum.
What’s more, remittances from relatives living abroad are starting to dry up, which has meant some families are going hungry. “People are cutting back on meals, from three to two meals a day,” said Ms. Okonjo-Iweala, who is the former finance minister of Nigeria.
As a result, she expected malnourishment to rise in poor nations and for more children to drop out of school as they lack the energy to attend.
“The context is that we’re dealing with a human crisis,” she said.
She asked philanthropists and foundations to work with the World Bank in microfinance and other efforts to help ameliorate these growing problems.
“I see plenty of possibilities with these partnerships with the philanthropic sector, working together with the private sector, with the international-financial institutions, with the public sector resources of these countries coming together to address the various channels that can help developing countries weather this crisis,” she said.
