Highlights
WFP plans to resume its school meals programme as the 2016-2017 academic year begins in September.
WFP’s nutrition programme has remained suspended for the past 3 months due to a shortage in Super Cereal Plus. The specialized commodity is expected to arrive on 30 August according to the lastest shipping information.
WFP’s activity supporting patients with Tuberculosis (TB) has yet to resume due to continued funding challenges and ongoing strategic discussions with the Ministry of Health and Social Protection.
Food Distribution for Food for Assets (FFA) activities will be carried out later this year according to project implementation plans.
WFP Assistance
School Feeding: WFP’s school feeding programme complements the Government of Tajikistan’s social safety nets by providing daily school meals to 370,000 students in 2,000 schools (over 54 percent of the total schools) in rural areas. Since October 2013, WFP has supported activities to build the government’s capacity, specifically, the financing and managing of the nationally-owned school feeding programme, which aims to assist vulnerable food insecure communities in rural areas.
Since the beginning of 2016, WFP has been assisting the Government in drafting a national school feeding programme. WFP, in cooperation with its technical partner Russian NGO Social Industrial Food Services Institute, has implemented activities to improve nutrition indicators through school meals, as well as by enhancing the management and service of the school meals through various time and cost effective models of organization. In July, WFP continued preparation for the new academic year reviewing templates for school feeding, monitoring and evaluation and preliminary feasibility test for pilot projects.
Food Assistance for Assets: Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) programmes help meet immediate food needs of food insecure people while building community assets. Using food, vouchers or cash transfers as incentive, communities work on community assets that help to reduce exposure to and impact of shocks, strengthen resilience to natural disasters, and contribute to sustainable livelihoods while ensuring environmental benefits. Tajikistan is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Therefore, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation have become increasingly important components of efforts to build community and household resilience. WFP launched implementation of FFA and Food for Training projects in Rasht, Khatlon, GBAO, Sughdt and Direct Ruled districts of Tajikistan, targeting 12,000 most vulnerable people with 327 mt of food.
Emergency Response: WFP supports Tajikistan’s emergency preparedness and response system, working with the government’s Committee for Emergency Situations and other relevant agencies. Based on its solid experience in this sector, WFP is an active member of the national Rapid Emergency Assessment and Coordination Team and contributes to achieving objectives of the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. WFP responds to natural disasters and emergencies through emergency food assistance and relief interventions. To ensure readiness in case of rapid onset emergencies, a contingency stock is foreseen for targeted distributions for an initial period of three months.
Treatment and Prevention of Malnutrition: Tajikistan has the worst nutrition indicators in Central Asia. Every year more than 5,000 children are enrolled in a WFP-supported supplementary feeding programme treating moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) in selected Primary Health Care Centres. WFP undertook the process of developing Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) guidelines and is working to scale up the prevention of chronic and acute malnutrition, contingent upon resources and funding. WFP co-chairs the Food Security and Nutrition Development Coordination Council, and advocates for nutritional goals. WFP’s nutrition programming is focused in Shartuz and Kulyab districts in the Khatlon region because of high prevalence of malnutrition. Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MoHSP) proposed Balkhi district as the third district (after Shartuz and Kulyab) to resume nutrition activities.