Summary of WFP assistance:
WFP addresses food insecurity and malnutrition through a development oriented Country Programme, as well as a Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation in response to natural disasters. In 2014, the country’s political situation stabilised after fair elections in 2013; as a result, UN agencies developed and adopted a new UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF 2015 - 2019) to help guide and support the country’s development efforts. WFP has subsequently adopted a new country strategy, which aligns with the UNDAF. It is based on national development priorities, lessons learned from past interventions, and also takes into account the unique needs of the food insecure people in Madagascar.
WFP’s Country Programme has three components. In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, WFP implements a school feeding programme, supports the government in designing a national school feeding policy and a “home grown school feeding” model, which links school feeding with local small scale farmers. The second component aims to improve the nutrition of vulnerable groups through strengthening national capacity to implement interventions for the treatment and prevention of acute malnutrition, as well as activities to prevent stunting. This includes providing nutritional supplements to support malnourished people receiving treatment for tuberculosis (TB) through health centres. WFP helps enhance access to markets for smallholder farmers through local food purchases and training, and builds the capacity of farmers’ associations so they can improve the quality of their crops.
The Relief Operation provides immediate relief assistance when needed, and builds the resilience and capacity of the government and local communities to prepare for future shocks. Since Madagascar can be heavily affected by each cyclone/flooding season, WFP prepositions food in urban and remote areas to provide early recovery assistance to vulnerable households affected by natural disasters. WFP also provides nutritional assistance to treat moderate acute malnutrition in emergency situations. WFP implements a resilience component through a ‘three pronged approach,’ which assesses the country’s vulnerability to multiple shocks, facilitates the implementation of seasonal livelihood activities in the most vulnerable districts, and lastly conducts a planning exercise with communities to identify priority activities in each local context. WFP is also starting to support the government in re-establishing a food security early-warning system and putting in place emergency preparedness measures. WFP will use its technical expertise to support the establishment of a Vulnerability Assessment Committee and will develop national capacity to carry out emergency food security and nutrition assessments.