The drought destroyed the crops Boy had planted, killed his livestock which no longer had animal feed, and left his family without seeds for next season.

“We lost everything,” he told IRIN.

Now he, his two wives and 11 children live on the outskirts of Mazar-i-Sharif, some 85km away, in rented homes without water or electricity.

In this community, families displaced by the drought live four or five to a home, with only a tarpaulin covering the mud floor, and sheets covering the holes meant for windows. Young children walk around barefoot in sub-zero temperatures and do not go to school.

In each family one man tries to find casual work in the city. If he is lucky, he earns 200 Afghanis a day (US$4) with which to feed his entire family. Newly arrived families received tarps and blankets from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), as well as a three-month food ration, but some say they are still very much in need.

Their situation is unlikely to change for the better in the near future. Boy says he and his people are happy to return to Alburz in Chimtal District to cultivate, but do not have seeds to plant. Unless they get their hands on some in the next few weeks, they will lose next year’s harvest too.

“We will remain vulnerable,” Boy said, from inside one of the low-ceiling mud homes in the neighborhood. “It is a cycle we cannot change… We are really confused and don’t know what to do.”

Read more of the story here at the IRIN news service:
AFGHANISTAN: Time running out for displaced farmers

“WFP is committed to Indonesia’s vision of food security for all – working with the government to reduce under-nutrition is one of our three core strategies,” said WFP Indonesia Country Director, Coco Ushiyama. “Proper nutrition is at the heart of all progress, contributing to the development of healthier, stronger and brighter citizens. It has an integral role in poverty reduction and sustainable economic development achievements.   WFP is in Indonesia to work with all partners and leave the best of all possible legacies for the generations to come.” 
 
While significant progress has been made in reducing the prevalence of underweight children in Indonesia, studies show that stunting in particular remains a challenge, especially among the youngest. The prevalence of chronic malnourishment (or stunting) among children nationwide was ranked ‘high’at 35 per cent by the Ministry of Health in 2010. Provinces such as Nusa Tenggara Timur (58 percent) and Papua (48 percent) registered a ‘very high’ prevalence of chronic malnourishment.
 
“Stunting leads to higher childhood mortality, lower cognitive development, and reduced economic productivity in adulthood. Recent studies have also shown that stunted children have an increased risk of obesity, diabetes and chronic vascular diseases later in life. Prevention of stunting therefore also needs to be incorporated into the national strategy in preventing non-communicable diseases (NCDs)” said Martin Bloem, Chief of Nutrition Policy Division for WFP Headquarters in Rome during his presentation on a Global Perspective to food and nutrition for the early age in Jakarta last week.
 
WFP’s nutrition policy focuses on delivering the right food, at the right time, in the right place and has a particular focus on the first 1,000 days of life – from the womb to two years of age – a critical window of opportunity where a poor diet can mean irreparable losses to physical and intellectual development.
 
WFP is working closely with the Indonesian government and the private sector  on sustainable solutions to under-nutrition in the country, including the best ways to encourage dietary diversification and enhance and scale up access to nutritious foods through government social safety nets and the market.   
 
As part of efforts to share best practices, WFP last week joined government officials, academic experts and other key stakeholders at a Seminar on Food and Nutrition Security organized by the Food and Nutrition Community in Indonesia (PERGIZI PANGAN) with the theme, “Food and Nutrition for a Healthy, Bright and Strong Generation towards an Eminent Indonesia”(Pangan dan Gizi Mewujudkan Generasi Sehat,Cerdas, dan Kuat Menuju Indonesia Prima).

Source: World Food Programme

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The contribution is the largest donation that WFP has ever received from Germany for Yemen in one year and one of the highest ever worldwide. “We are extremely grateful for this incredible show of support in what is an increasingly dire situation,” said WFP Representative in Yemen Lubna Alaman. “This remarkable contribution was perfectly timed as we are embarking on the scaling up of our assistance in response to the growing needs of Yemen.”

Yemen is in the midst of an increasingly complex, full-fledged humanitarian crisis. Recent civil unrest, soaring food and fuel prices and a breakdown in social services have worsened an already critical humanitarian situation.

“Germany has committed itself to supporting WFP in an unprecedented scope in light of the ongoing political crisis which seriously affects the lives of many Yemenis, said Holger Green, the German Ambassador to the Republic of Yemen. “The German Government has decided to use a major part of its regular cooperation budget in 2011/2012 to address the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.”

WFP has scaled up its humanitarian assistance in 2012 to feed 3.5 million vulnerable people who have been pushed into hunger in the wake of sharp hikes in food prices and displacement in the northern and the southern regions of the country. WFP is especially prioritizing 1.8 million severely food insecure Yemenis living in the poorest 14 governorates including 635,000 women and children under the age of five. The estimated total cost of this food assistance is $207 million.

The German contribution will enable WFP to distribute more than 20,000 metric tons of food commodities such as fortified wheat flour, oil, and specialized nutritional products for severely malnourished children. The contribution will also support WFP’s Food for Girls’ Education program which provides take-home food rations as an incentive for families to keep girls in schools.

“The ongoing support of Germany goes a long way in helping WFP to respond to the critical food-security crisis and begin to close the hunger gap in Yemen,” said Alaman.

Source: World Food Programme
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“If the snow continues to keep the roads to rural and remote districts closed and we don’t get any assistance, we would face a severe humanitarian crisis,” Abdul Maroof Rasekh, a government spokesperson from mountainous Badakhshan Province, told IRIN.

The snow has cut off 14 of the province’s 28 districts from the provincial capital Faizabad, preventing people from accessing markets to get food for themselves and their cattle, he said.

At least 70 families are trapped in their homes in Eshkashim District, where rescue teams are trying to help them, Rasekh added. Altogether, hundreds of families are trapped in different districts, he said.

The heavy snow and avalanches have led to the deaths of at least 20 people, with 11 injured, Rasekh said. The cold weather and lack of animal feed in these areas also killed around 600 cattle.

According to a report received by the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 150 people traveling in a convoy in Baghlan Province were found alive after surviving overnight in their cars, under two meters of snow.

Poor roads and snow in winter mean it can take days to travel from one village to another in this a mainly Tajik-speaking province with an estimated population of one million, where most people are reliant on agriculture and livestock.

Badakhshan was among the provinces hit by drought last year which, according to an assessment by the World Food Programme (WFP), led 2.8 million Afghans nationwide to require food assistance.

Rasekh said there was a lack of food for people and fodder for their animals. “The Ministry of Agriculture only sent food assistance for 10,000 families before winter. Other than that, we haven’t got any assistance from the government or aid community,” he added.

Read more of the story here at the IRIN news service:
AFGHANISTAN: Avalanches cut off parts of drought-hit northeast

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With a $195,000 donation from Yum!’s World Hunger Relief campaign, WFP has facilitated the construction of 38 fuel-efficient stoves and 32 new kitchens for 35 primary schools across Manatuto District.

“WFP is grateful to Yum! and its customers for this truly tangible support for the future of Timor-Leste,” said Alberto Correia Mendes, WFP Country Director in Timor-Leste. “WFP provides kitchen and cooking facilities to support the Government’s school meals program. This helps to strengthen efforts to preserve the environment and allows children to focus on their studies.”

Previously, children in many Manatuto schools spent time collecting firewood to use for cooking their meals, which also took time away from their studies. The new stoves significantly reduce carbon emissions, reduce cooking time by using energy more efficiently and reduce risks of smoke inhalation and eyesight problems for the cooks.

“We are delighted to see this project take off and have such an immediate impact on the people it is designed to help,” said Tony Lowings, Managing Director KFC SOPAC, representing Yum! Restaurants International. “These stoves and kitchens are a very practical way for Yum! to make a difference in communities in Timor-Leste, and we are proud to be involved in such a transformative and sustainable project.”

An earlier donation by Yum! in 2010 funded similar fuel-efficient stoves projects in Liquisa, Bobonaro and Ermera districts that are expected to be completed this year.

Since 2007, the World Hunger Relief campaign has raised nearly US$85 million for WFP and other hunger-fighting organizations, saving the lives of millions of people in 39 countries.

Source: World Food Programme
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“Myanmar has been called an aid orphan in the past because its per capita assistance is so low,” London-based Myanmar analyst Ashley South told IRIN.

The country received close to $5 per person in overseas development assistance in 2010, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – a 28 percent drop from 2009.

While careful not to draw any link between donor decisions and nascent political change, donor consortiums and NGOs in Myanmar are finding that attaining funds has become easier.

“More funding is available now,” said Andrew Kirkwood, funding director for the Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT), a multi-donor association set up in 2009 to support food security in Shan, Kachin, Rakhine and Chin states.

In recent weeks LIFT donors signed grants of up to $130 million for 2012, a $30 million increase on the 2009 target, while extending operations until 2016, two years past the original planned exit.

“We are now able to increase our implementing partners and expand to more townships,” said Kirkwood.

But the increase can only cover so much of the country’s needs, he added. “Aid to Myanmar has always been low, and remains extremely low, despite the increase.”

In Chin State, eight out of 10 households are food insecure, according to the World Food Programme, while hundreds of thousands were internally displaced as of June 2011 and in need of assistance, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).

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MYANMAR: Donor aid begins to flow

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EU Contemplating $197M Aid to Myanmar

WFP will contribute $3 million over a six-month period, which will enable food assistance through monthly cash vouchers to extremely vulnerable urban households in Kabul. In addition to offices space and project supervisory staff, MoLSAMD will provide four locations to be used as voucher distribution centers at a total cost of about $40,000. The first distributions will start in mid January 2012.

“We are launching this project after the successful implementation of similar programs in other Afghan cities where it has had a positive impact on household food security,” said WFP Deputy Country Director Bradley Guerrant. “We are very happy to be working in partnership with MoLSAMD to help contain the impact of high food prices on the Afghan urban poor.”

Some 18,900 households (about 113,000 individuals), consisting mainly of poor women and households headed by the disabled, will benefit from the project. Each monthly voucher is worth 1,250 Afghanis, or about $25, and can be exchanged for food items in selected local shops.

WFP Afghanistan has increased the use of cash vouchers in its food assistance programs in areas where food is widely available on local markets. In addition to Kabul, WFP is currently implementing voucher projects in Mazar, Hirat and Jalalabad cities.

For poor families, the vouchers mean guaranteed access to food every month. Beyond that, the project also gives them the chance to choose which foods will best meet their families’ needs.

For local merchants, the vouchers are creating thousands of new customers, most of whom previously had difficulties affording to buy food in their shops.

Traditionally, most of WFP’s work in Afghanistan has been in highly food-insecure rural areas. The voucher project is part of an urban safety net program aimed at helping the urban poor, who are particularly vulnerable to high food prices.

Source: World Food Programme
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The largest humanitarian agency in Tajikistan, WFP is targeting more than half a million people throughout the country through development and recovery activities. WFP is implementing a number of projects that act as a safety net to protect families who are struggling to feed their families, to improve household food security as well as building up communities and promoting investment in people.

WFP’s biggest activity is a school meals project that covers 60 percent of all primary schoolchildren in rural areas, providing 370,000 children with a hot meal every day.

WFP provides food assistance to nearly 130,000 people living in the food insecure and disaster prone regions of Khatlon, Sughd and GBAO Rasht, and implements a food-for-work project for 30,000 people to help boost agriculture and food production. WFP is also providing food assistance to nearly 52,000 tuberculosis patients and their families.

“Russia is the biggest donor to WFP in Tajikistan, and this contribution will set an example for other donors to support these crucial programs,” Ferreira added. “We are indeed proud to be a trusted and efficient partner of the Russian Federation to channel this assistance.”

Source: World Food Programme
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The government has requested WFP to provide food assistance and other support to the worst-affected people, many of whom have no access to food and clean drinking water.

“WFP is rapidly moving food from our warehouses in Mindanao to help people who have been made homeless because of these floods,” said WFP Philippines Country Director, Stephen Anderson. “We are working with the government to provide vital emergency food rations to help those who have lost their homes and belongings in areas where there has been the most extensive devastation from the flooding.”

WFP’s initial response to date includes:

• The rapid delivery of high-energy biscuits, enough to feed more than 7,800 people in evacuation centers in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. Additional high-energy biscuits for 65,000 people are currently being mobilized.

• Distribution of nutritious ready-to-use supplementary food (Plumpy’ Doz) particularly targeted at 15,000 children under 5 years of age.

• Logistical support to the government’s relief effort, including the deployment of a mobile storage tent and delivery of water tanks, blankets, tarpaulins and tents for people who have been displaced by the storm waters.

According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council of the Philippines, out of the 285,000 persons displaced by floods, some 43,000 are sheltering at 62 evacuation center’s. WFP is most concerned about people who still remain inaccessible and will work closely with the government’s Department of Social Welfare and Development and other agencies to reach them. The death toll has risen to 957 people, with others still missing.

Source: World Food Programme
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WFP Niger Country Director, Denise Brown said:

“Unusually high food prices are affecting needy people who are facing growing difficulties as they struggle to feed themselves and their children. I am deeply worried about the food situation deteriorating in the coming months and we cannot sit back and wait for the worst to come.”

Niger is in the immediate post-harvest period, a time when more cereals are available on the market and normally there would be a subsequent drop in prices. However, this is not the case this year. The average millet price has increased by 37 percent compared to the same time last year (November 2010).

The Government of Niger has identified up to 750,000 people as severely food insecure, in the regions of Tahoua, Tillabéri, Diffa and some areas of Zinder. This number is expected to rise to as high as one million in early 2012, as the country moves towards the lean season in March – April.

WFP aims to provide food assistance to some 3.3 million people over the coming year, with a budget of $163 million.

Source: World Food Programme
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The game – called Food Force – puts players at the helm of the world’s largest humanitarian aid agency on the frontlines against hunger. To advance, players must procure food, deliver it around the world and respond to emergencies, while building their logistical muscle.

“KONAMI has created a challenging game that we hope will harness the immense power of social media to raise awareness and funds for the hungry,” said Nancy Roman, Director of WFP’s Communications, Public Policy and Private Partnership Division.

“There are millions of online video games and a few of which help support the fight against hunger. Food Force will be the first one to build large communities of people who will be able to make a dent in hunger,” said Roman.

Food Force is an application on the social networking site Facebook. Players must interact with each other in order to get ahead, which they can also do by buying crops, equipment and other virtual goods.

Money spent by players goes to fund WFP school meals projects in the real world. These projects provide daily meals to 20 million children every year, helping to keep them in school while providing them with the energy they need to learn.

This is the second version of Food Force following the 2005 original, a video game which simulated an emergency operation on a fictitious island. An instant hit, the original version of the game has so far been downloaded over 6 million times and been played by an estimated 10 million people. WFP’s relationship with KONAMI dates back to 2005 when it collaborated with KONAMI to produce the Japanese version of the original Food Force for PC.

“The social media and gaming landscape has been transformed since the original Food Force and now there is great scope for a game that allows players to grow and strengthen their networks, while doing good” said Nancy Roman.

“KONAMI will utilize the unique features of social games for its release of Food Force on Facebook. Through this title, we hope that people in Japan and across the globe not only strengthen their understanding of WFP’s work but also support their worldwide efforts against hunger while enjoying an accessible social game,” said Kazuhiko Uehara, Senior Vice President, Corporate Officer of KONAMI.

The game has been released in both Japanese and English.

KONAMI strives to create unique and thrilling products for customers all over the world through the planning, production, manufacturing and sale of social games, online games, home video games, arcade machines, card games, mobile phone content, toys, music/video software, magazines and other publications.

Source: World Food Programme
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WFP Afghanistan has announced a donation of 1 million euros (US$ 1.4 million) from the Government of Finland to support food assistance operations in the country.

The donation brings the total contribution from Finland to WFP’s work in Afghanistan this year to 2 million euros (US$ 2.8 million), compared to 1 million euros (US$ 1.4 million) in 2010.

“This donation is not restricted to a specific program, which allows WFP to use it to respond quickly to immediate needs – in this case, a looming shortage of supplementary food to fight child malnutrition,” said WFP Afghanistan Country Director Louis Imbleau. “That kind of flexibility from a donor is invaluable.”

The contribution has already been allocated to purchase nearly 330 metric tons of Plumpy’Sup, a highly nutritious ready-to-use food designed to provide young children with essential vitamins and minerals to fight malnutrition. This will be enough to provide 40,000 malnourished children with the product for a three-month treatment period.

“We are very pleased that our donation will be used to relieve child malnutrition. Children are the future of Afghanistan, and they are also one of the most vulnerable groups in the Afghan society,” said Ambassador of Finland to Afghanistan Dr. Pauli Järvenpää. “The Government of Finland has found WFP a reliable partner, with a quick and focused delivery of aid, and looks forward to further cooperation with WFP here in Afghanistan and elsewhere.”

WFP’s relief and recovery activities reach more than 1 million people each month in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Relief activities provide emergency assistance to IDPs and people affected by natural disasters, as well as support to malnourished children and pregnant women. Recovery activities focus on longer-term development, such as providing meals to schoolchildren or using food assistance to support projects building agricultural assets.

Source: World Food Programme
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The items – with a total value of approximately $230,000 – will enable families to store rice stocks more efficiently, limiting post-harvest losses and thus improving longer-term food security.

“This project is entering a dynamic new phase where a combination of initiatives can make a tangible and lasting impact on the livelihoods of the people we assist,” said WFP Sri Lanka Country Director Adnan Khan. “Training in processing techniques which add value to household food crops will help farmers access a wider range of markets and to secure better prices for their produce.”

WF’P’s donation launches the second phase of its post-harvest initiative, which follows on from earlier assistance to the Government to increase its in-country post-harvest storage capacity.

Supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Institute of Post Harvest Technology, the second phase also seeks to support capacity building through training for women in food processing, packaging and agro-based entrepreneurship in re-settled provinces in the northern areas.

Training is being provided in coordination with the Government, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and retail company Cargills Ceylon.

At today’s hand-over event, the donated items were presented to the Minister of Agriculture, Honourable Mahinda Yappa Abeywardena, during a ceremony attended by WFP representatives and government officials. Donor representatives from AusAid, Norway and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, whose governments have provided funding support for the project initiative, were also present.

This latest WFP donation is in addition to 155 six-meter-high storage containers and 52 sets of weighing scales that were provided in 2010.

To date, WFP Sri Lanka has presented some US$650,000 of storage and agricultural equipment to the government.

Source: World Food Programme
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WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran, who is in Washington DC for the 2011 WFPUSA George McGovern Leadership Award, congratulated Gates and Buffett for their role in providing the vision and catalystic momentum to support WFP’s transformative P4P pilot program.

“Today one out of every 7 people go to sleep hungry,” said Sheeran "Bill Gates and Howard G. Buffett have had the vision to support our P4P initiative, which is part of WFP’s goal to not only help reach the most vulnerable people overcome hunger, but to build sustainable food security solutions. I congratulate them on their award, and thank them for helping smallholder farmers break the cycle of hunger at its root.”

WFP’s new Memorandum of Understanding with USAID directly addresses access to finance for smallholder farmers in four countries in eastern and southern Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.The United Nations World Food Programme expanded its partnership with USAID to support smallholder farmers in developing countries through its innovative

“This is a major step forward in our goal of harnessing the productive power of smallholder farmers to defeat hunger in developing countries,” said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran. “Working in close partnership with USAID, we will be literally extending a credit line to smallholder farmers that will unleash the potential for greater yields, higher quality and better access to local markets.”

The 2011 WFPUSA George McGovern Leadership Award was bestowed on Bill Gates and Howard G. Buffett in recognition of the critical role that their foundations have played in supporting WFP P4P pilot program in 21 countries.

The $67.1 million WFP has received from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the $29 million in donations from the Howard G.Buffett Foundation have provided the foundation for an initiative that is supporting small scale farmers in developing countries, helping them to improve yields, raise quality, and connect more directly with local markets.

As small scale farmers produce more, and higher quality produce, they also become the source of food assistance purchased by WFP to feed hungry people – meaning more food can be purchased locally, and WFP funds can be ploughed directly into the agricultural economies of countries where hunger is still a threat.

Just halfway through WFP’s five-year P4P pilot, the results are compelling. More than 100,000 farmers, warehouse operators and small and medium traders have been trained in agricultural production, post harvest handling, quality improvement, marketing and finance skills.

Working with more than 250 partners, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), to improve both quality and yields, WFP has spent some $44 million purchasing more than 120,000 metric tons of food from farmers.

Source: World Food Programme
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The exercise will determine the potential of mobile financial services and products – including savings, transfers, microcredit and microinsurance – to improve coping strategies and financial literacy.

“Storing money in ‘e-wallets’ and electronic money transfers have had an enormous impact in other African countries,” says WFP Project Manager Calum McGregor. “They’ve transformed people’s access to financial services, encouraged a savings culture and significantly reduced the time and cost associated with storing money in traditional bank branches.”

The interest in mobile banking using mobile phone technology was sparked by the success of WFP Zambia’s pioneering electronic voucher system which ensures food rations for beneficiaries and instant payment for shopkeepers. The delivery by this method of more than 275, 000 food rations to vulnerable citizens showed WFP that the integration of mobile financial services into its programming could bring similar benefits.

Without access to financial services, poor households struggling to feed their families are particularly vulnerable to unforeseen events such as illness or drought and are less able to increase their income and financial security. The assessment builds on a government-designed 2009 FinScope survey of consumer habits and perceptions of financial services. This survey found that 63 percent of the population has no access to financial services of any kind.

Mobile banking eliminates the need for rural workers to travel to financial institutions – instead, they can store their money electronically, check their balances and perform various transactions transactions through a mobile phone.

“Zambia has the potential to embrace technical advances like these”, says McGregor. “We hope this assessment will highlight which services would be most useful for those in rural areas and the effect they would have on decreasing risk and HIV vulnerability, as well as overall household food security”.

Taking part in the assessment are groups deemed to be exceptionally vulnerable to HIV/AIDS: migrant sugar cane laborers in Mazabuka, fisher folk in the Kafue flats fishery and small-holder farmers from Monze district. Small-holder farmers have been included to enable a comparison between migrant and non-migrant agricultural laborers.

WFP’s partners in this joint assessment are the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the WorldFish Centre (WF). Results are due in December 2011.

Source: World Food Programme

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WFP’s partners joint assessment mobiles International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the WorldFish Centre (WF) Zambia