Highlights
- The Government of Japan is providing a USD 4 million emergency grant to WFP and a USD 3 million grant to UNHCR in Pakistan.
- The second Annual Work Plan 2017 agreement was signed with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
- An in-depth survey was conducted on “Food Security & Livelihoods amongst Returnee Families in FATA”.
WFP Assistance
In January 2016, WFP began its activities under a new operational model “Transition: Towards Resilient and Food-Secure Pakistan”. Under the framework of this project, WFP has been working in close partnership with a variety of federal and provincial government departments, as well as sister agencies to: ensure the improvement of food security and nutrition among displaced and returnee populations; reinforce the resilience of communities living in the most hazard-prone areas; address malnutrition among the most vulnerable segments of the society, particularly pregnant and nursing women and children under the age of five; and support an environment for women to achieve social and economic equality.
WFP’s specific activities in the country currently include: life-saving relief food assistance to Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and their host communities, as well as returnees from Afghanistan; school feeding in the Federal Administered Tribal Areas (FATA); livelihood support activities in areas of return in FATA and drought-affected districts of Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP); nutrition programmes in KP, FATA, Sindh, Balochistan and Pakistan Administered Kashmir (AJK) regions; community-based disaster risk reduction interventions in the most hazard-prone and food-insecure locations; developing the Government’s capabilities in disaster risk management and other areas linked with food security and nutrition. WFP is targeting more than 2.7 million people for assistance in 2017.
WFP provides monthly relief food distributions to displaced and returnee families in KP and FATA to meet their basic food needs. WFP’s food assistance for assets (FFA) activities target highly vulnerable groups, particularly those who have lost their productive assets and livelihoods, with a combination of cash and food assistance depending on the availability of infrastructure, services and food in the targeted areas and local markets.
Nutrition support activities being implemented in targeted districts focus on cases of moderate acute malnutrition amongst vulnerable women and children, while sister agencies focus on the severe acute malnutrition. A supplementary feeding initiative is being implemented in Sindh as part of this activity.
WFP’s school feeding initiative in FATA aims to increase enrolment and stabilize attendance in primary schools, with specialized focus on supporting girls’ education through cash incentives. WFP, working through local producers and the private sector, has been developing and producing specialized nutritious products for the treatment and prevention of malnutrition. WFP is intensifying this effort with the intention of improving the quality and quantity of local production. WFP also mills and fortifies wheat flour with a vitamin and mineral premix in Pakistan. These efforts are stimulating the economy, creating employment and raising food safety standards. Along with other actors, WFP supports a national strategy for wheat flour fortification that builds local commercial capacity to mill and fortify wheat.
WFP facilitated the Government and other development partners in carrying out the Food Security and Nutrition Strategic Review, which will position food security and nutrition at the centre of the national development agenda and support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG-2) “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture”. WFP has also been supporting the National Zero Hunger initiative, the Scaling-Up Nutrition (SUN) and the National & Provincial Fortification Alliances (since 2012), in addition to encouraging the formulation of multi-sectoral policies and strategies. WFP is also engaged in the Government’s food security and nutrition-related evidence-based assessments and analyses creating a knowledge base that will enhance local programming and policy decision- making. WFP is a key participant in the planning process of the UN Pakistan Partnership Framework (UNPPF) and the next cycle of the Delivering as One initiative (OP III).
The Humanitarian Response Facilities (HRF) and emergency storage facilities (flospans) constructed and installed by WFP continue to enable provincial authroities to respond to small to medium emergencies and disasters.
WFP has been coordinating with the Government at both the national and provincial levels. In 2016, WFP signed individual Memoranda of Understanding with the Governments of KP, Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, AJK, and the FATA Secretariat as well as with the related Disaster Management Authorities (NDMA) based on its three-year programme. Provincial level annual work plans were finalized in consultation with the relevant line departments.