Humanitarian worker Mike Penrose on the 'Food from Ukraine' programme

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Mike Penrose, a veteran humanitarian worker and special adviser to the government of Ukraine on the "Food from Ukraine" humanitarian programme, explained that this initiative "increases the value of the aid that's being distributed" in an "era of diminishing amounts of money". He also emphasised that the programme "works equally well in Africa", following the launch of a regional food distribution hub in Ghana's capital Accra. Penrose has been working with RIDNE, a Ukrainian food consortium made up of small to medium-sized food producers that now provides supplies to the Ukrainian humanitarian food market. Despite battling the Russian invasion, "Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe", Penrose said. He explained that RIDNE gathered together the producers and "allowed them to trade at scale to actually meet the needs of large-scale aid organisations". As a result, "over 80 percent of all food aid being delivered by aid agencies in Ukraine is sourced in Ukraine", meaning that "the people who are most vulnerable from the economic shock of the war (...) can now benefit economically from the aid that needs to be delivered," Penrose said. 'The programme works equally well in Africa' The initiative didn't stop there, and RIDNE recently found that "the programme (...) established in Ukraine works equally well in Africa", Penrose said, following the launch of a regional food distribution hub in Accra, the capital of Ghana. "When you buy the food, it goes to producers who need it in Africa or in Ukraine. And when you distribute it, it goes to the most vulnerable people who are dependent on food aid", in countries such as Sudan, Somalia, areas of the Sahel and DR Congo, instead of being "lost into large agro-industry", Penrose explained. Increasing 'the value of the aid that's being distributed' Asked about the UN's World Food Programme and major NGOs, Penrose declared that the "Food from Ukraine" model is better because "it takes people out of that loop of vulnerability and really increases the value of the aid that's being distributed". Penrose addressed aid cuts from the US but also Europe and their impact on food distribution, saying that in an "era of diminishing amounts of money, where we have increasing need", this programme "ensures that you get absolute maximum value out of the money we have" and it "helps both the countries that are supplying the aid, which are crisis-affected like Ukraine, and those that receive it". 'Political courage' needed to break Abramovich funds deadlock The veteran humanitarian worker also discussed the dispute between the British government and Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, whose £2.35 billion from the sale of Chelsea Football Club are currently frozen and can only be used for humanitarian purposes in Ukraine, according to London, something that Abramovich refuses. "Humanitarian programmes are global. The impact of wars around the world are global. Limiting it to one geographic boundary doesn't actually even help countries like Ukraine in the best possible way," Penrose declared. "I just think we need some political courage to break this deadlock and ensure that the money comes to the foundation," he concluded.