Thank you for your post. I wanted to reiterate your point that though the operating environment in Sudan makes it difficult to calculate the exact cost effectiveness of a donation, there is overwhelming evidence that suggests individuals are frequently dying from preventable causes such as cholera, malaria, dengue fever, and malnutrition. Also, as you mentioned, the humanitarian infrastructure is already in place, so resources are the principal impediment to say, providing saline drips and oral rehydration solution to prevent the spread of cholera, running community kitchens at greater scale, and distributing medical supplies and food baskets. In the past two weeks 90,000 have been displaced from El Fasher and an additional 50,000 in Khordofan—many who have arrived in Tawila are still suffering from malnutrition and need support.
Though I don’t know of any way of donating directly to the ERRs, I work with the ERRs through Mutual Aid Sudan Coalition, a project of the non-profit Proximity2Humanity. We work with ERRs in two capacities: 1) we help ease administrative burdens on ERRs (e.g., managing grant requirements, writing narrative and financial reports for donors, providing oversight and support on their reporting processes and data analysis etc.) so that they can focus on the planning and implementation of humanitarian activities across Sudan. 2) we engage in fundraising and advocacy, ensuring that international donors feel confident donating to the ERRs while also adjusting their reporting expectations to better reflect the grassroots context of the movement. So far we have raised and managed almost $5.5. million for the ERRs; money donated through us gets to ERRs in under 2 weeks, and our overhead is under 5%. Here’s the link to our site: https://www.mutualaidsudan.org/
Because we receive questions about cost effectiveness and “lives saved per dollar” frequently, we put together the following estimates of the cost per beneficiary from ERR financial reports. ERR volunteers fill out “F-5s” for every activity detailing its cost (documenting receipts etc.), type of activity, and (roughly) estimating the number of beneficiaries; we help them track and manage these reports, aggregating data that makes the following estimates possible:
$15 can provide safe evacuation, temporary shelter, and food upon arrival for one person during an emergency (based on $10 for transport + shelter and $5 for five meals)
$100 can help provide 100 hot meals through local communal kitchens. (At $1 per meal per person)
$100 can help provide medical support for 100 people, including life saving saline drips and oral rehydration solution, and clean water to prevent the spread of cholera (based on about $530K reaching ~520,000 people)
$85 helps evacuate and protect 90 people fleeing active conflict (on an average cost of under $1/person for recent evacuations)
$100 can fund emergency take-home food baskets for over 60 people in need (based on $550K reaching ~350,000 people)
Allegra,
Thank you for your post. I wanted to reiterate your point that though the operating environment in Sudan makes it difficult to calculate the exact cost effectiveness of a donation, there is overwhelming evidence that suggests individuals are frequently dying from preventable causes such as cholera, malaria, dengue fever, and malnutrition. Also, as you mentioned, the humanitarian infrastructure is already in place, so resources are the principal impediment to say, providing saline drips and oral rehydration solution to prevent the spread of cholera, running community kitchens at greater scale, and distributing medical supplies and food baskets. In the past two weeks 90,000 have been displaced from El Fasher and an additional 50,000 in Khordofan—many who have arrived in Tawila are still suffering from malnutrition and need support.
Though I don’t know of any way of donating directly to the ERRs, I work with the ERRs through Mutual Aid Sudan Coalition, a project of the non-profit Proximity2Humanity. We work with ERRs in two capacities: 1) we help ease administrative burdens on ERRs (e.g., managing grant requirements, writing narrative and financial reports for donors, providing oversight and support on their reporting processes and data analysis etc.) so that they can focus on the planning and implementation of humanitarian activities across Sudan. 2) we engage in fundraising and advocacy, ensuring that international donors feel confident donating to the ERRs while also adjusting their reporting expectations to better reflect the grassroots context of the movement. So far we have raised and managed almost $5.5. million for the ERRs; money donated through us gets to ERRs in under 2 weeks, and our overhead is under 5%. Here’s the link to our site: https://www.mutualaidsudan.org/
Because we receive questions about cost effectiveness and “lives saved per dollar” frequently, we put together the following estimates of the cost per beneficiary from ERR financial reports. ERR volunteers fill out “F-5s” for every activity detailing its cost (documenting receipts etc.), type of activity, and (roughly) estimating the number of beneficiaries; we help them track and manage these reports, aggregating data that makes the following estimates possible:
$15 can provide safe evacuation, temporary shelter, and food upon arrival for one person during an emergency (based on $10 for transport + shelter and $5 for five meals)
$100 can help provide 100 hot meals through local communal kitchens. (At $1 per meal per person)
$100 can help provide medical support for 100 people, including life saving saline drips and oral rehydration solution, and clean water to prevent the spread of cholera (based on about $530K reaching ~520,000 people)
$85 helps evacuate and protect 90 people fleeing active conflict (on an average cost of under $1/person for recent evacuations)
$100 can fund emergency take-home food baskets for over 60 people in need (based on $550K reaching ~350,000 people)