Highlights
In March, WFP reached 162,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kachin, northern Shan and Rakhine States as well as flood-affected people, with cash or food assistance.
In March, more than 52,400 pregnant and nursing women and malnourished children, including from IDP families, received blended food from WFP.
WFP currently requires USD 30 million to meet overall food assistance needs for the next six months.
WFP Assistance
In 2015, WFP extended its Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO), to harmonise the operation with the work of the United Nations country team. The PRRO contributes to more equitable development and supports national reconciliation by reducing poverty, food insecurity and undernutrition, responding to disaters and increasing resilience among the most vulnerable. Its objectives are aligned with WFP’s Strategic Objectives 1, 2 and 4, Millennium Development Goals 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, and the Zero Hunger Challenge.
The aims are to 1) prepare for and respond to natural disasters and other shocks in support of the Government; 2) assist post-disaster recovery by rehabilitating productive assets to improve household food security and create socio-economic opportunties for the most vulnerable; 3) address undernutrition among children and pregnant and nursing women, and support at-risk groups such as people living with HIV and tuberculosis (TB); 4) improve access to, and enrolment and attendance at, primary schools; and 5) improve the sustainability of responses to food insecurity and undernutrition through knowledgesharing and capacity development. WFP aims to reach its objectives through five major activities:
Relief: WFP is providing regular life-saving food assistance to people displaced and/or affected by conflicts, violence and natural disasters. WFP and FAO are co-leading the Food Security Sector (FSS) since 2014. FSS has been responding to food and/or cash needs of people affected by ethnic conflicts and natural disasters. After the 2015 nationwide floods, FSS conducted a Flood Impact Assessment and a Crops and Food Security Assessment Mission, both of which identified the food security gaps in some areas.
Nutrition – Linking with national health systems and in line with the national protection scheme, WFP adopts nutrition-specific, nutrition-sensitive and nutrition and food security linked interventions.
In 2016, WFP Country Representative chairs a UN Nutrition Network and WFP continues to provide blended food to pregnant and nursing women and malnourished children.
HIV/TB programme – As good intake of balanced nutrition is pivotal for both HIV and TB patients to keep the immune system strong and to fight diseases, WFP provides food-by-prescription to people living with HIV or TB with an aim to enhance adherence and treatement success.
Community Asset Creation – WFP strengthens community resilience by (re-)creating community infrastructures and income opportunities.
School Feeding - In support of the country’s National Social Protection Strategic Plan and the 2016-2021 National Educational Strategic Plan, WFP and the Ministry of Education have started working towards the nationalisation of the school feeding programme from 2015/16 academic year onwards.
Furthermore, WFP, in collaboration with the Ministry of Livestock, Fishery and Rural Development, has completed Food Security and Poverty Estimation Surveys in 2015 and will develop a country’s first Food Security Atlas, contributing to advancement of the nation’s food security and poverty reduction policies and strategies. WFP also supports the Government in establishing nine resource centres across the country, enhancing national capacity of sustainable food security monitoring and response.