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The World Food Day on 16 October recalls that an adequate availability of food and clean drinking water is not a matter of course.
Especially in 2009, the global food situation is in a precarious state: For the first time, more than one billion people worldwide are suffering from malnutrition. Most affected are the people in the poorest countries – as is the case in West Timor.

According to the findings of the UN World Food Program, a large part of the population of West Timor is suffering from malnutrition. The supply of drinking water and agricultural products is not sufficient for the 1.6 million inhabitants of the Indonesian part of the island. This shortfall is due in large part to the difficult climatic conditions in the region. Heavy rainfalls during the monsoon and a dry period lasting up to nine months limit drinking water resources and make balanced agriculture almost impossible. The international aid organization CARE has compiled a requirement analysis together with other organizations and established the “Foster” (Food Security for Timor) aid project that is being promoted by the EU. The Siemens Stiftung also recognizes the urgent need to act in West Timor and is donating five mobile water filters, as well as training programs in the sustainable use of water for the population.

Together with the residents, experts from CARE are constructing water reservoirs, wells, and boreholes with taps in twenty villages. The filters donated by the Siemens Stiftung assure the quality of the collected water and provide potable water for around 2,000 people. Specially trained local water committees maintain the water facilities, ensuring their long-term use.

In order to increase agricultural yields, the villagers also receive agricultural equipment through FOSTER and are trained in farming methods which are tailored to the climatic conditions. The goal of all these measures is to end the population's dependence on foreign supplies. The living conditions of over 2,500 households can be improved in a sustainable fashion in this way.

Through its support for the international project, the Siemens Stiftung is making a further contribution to meeting the Millennium Development Goals: to halve worldwide hunger and lack of drinking water supplies by 2015.

Read more about the Siemens Stiftung's involvement in the area of water and health here

Find out more about the work of the international aid organization CARE  here

Read more about the activities of the EU in the field of humanitarian aid  here