Messages clés :

• En Afrique de l’Ouest, les prix des produits alimentaires étaient stables ou ont diminué en novembre tandis que leurs disponibilités continuaient à s’améliorer avec la campagne de commercialisation en cours. Des hausses de prix ont eu lieu plus tôt que prévu dans des centres urbains de la région et dans les zones structurellement déficitaires en raison des flux limités de produits en provenance des régions de production excédentaire.

Posted by Kate Snipes, Agricultural Counselor, U.S. Embassy Nairobi, Kenya

School children in the rural communities of Malawi will soon have access to more qualified primary school educators, thanks in part to the Foreign Agricultural Service’s (FAS) Food for Progress (FFP) program.

The Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) conducted in September 2012 aimed at obtaining a better understanding of the situation, needs, risks, capacities and vulnerabilities of refugees in Malawi with regard to food, livelihood, their nutritional/health situation and related matters. The current programme is coming to an end, and this JAM Report aims to provide information for further assistance through the design of a new programme cycle for both WFP (the PRRO) and UNHCR. The last JAM was carried out in 2009 in coordination with the GoM and other stakeholders.

Posted December 17, 2012

Natural disasters and conflict worldwide have left many people in need in recent weeks. From the devastating effects of Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines to the ongoing recovery operations after Hurricane Sandy swept through the Caribbean, these crises have mobilized the global Red Cross network.

AFRICA

Malawi Food Crisis

Empowering HIV-positive women

In 2002, Françoise from Goma, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was admitted to the UN World Food Programme’s (WFP) HIV and AIDS programme. “Food assistance has been my only reliable source of food, especially when I was sick and hospitalized,” recalls Françoise, who lost her husband to AIDS.

In addition to food, HIV-positive people can also receive training and non-food assistance from WFP’s partner organizations to allow them to learn valuable life skills, such as how to start a business, to help them become self-sufficient.

KEY MESSAGES

-November dryness caused a delay in the start of season in many areas across the region.

-Poor rains during the 2011/12 agriculture season and low rainfall in November have resulted in persistent below-average vegetation conditions and reduced water availability.

-Good rains in early December could help reduce moisture deficits.

-Zambia has reported army worm infestations in several provinces and efforts to control the worms and replant crops are underway.

By: Khalid Koser

When the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement were completed in 1998, it was against the backdrop of the massive displacement of people inside their own countries, especially as a result of the civil wars in the Great Lakes, West Africa, and the Balkans. This was a new phenomenon for which the existing international response was ill-prepared. The implementation of the Guiding Principles over the last decade and a half has gone a long way to filling the protection gap for these internally displaced persons although much remains to be done.

This time last year, many families in the Malawian village of Bokosi were facing a thoroughly depressing Christmas.

Their crops had failed causing severe financial losses which in turn meant painful, life-limiting consequences, such as parents no longer being able to afford school fees and other vital expenses, such as medical treatment.

When Tearfund partner Eagles approached the women of Bokosi, in Lilongwe District, to help them set up a savings and loans group, the sense of hopelessness became clear in their initial choice of name for it.

With food prices high in Malawi's markets, many families are struggling to find enough to eat. A new programme by WFP is sending cash to the most vulnerable people through their mobile phones. This assistance enables them to buy more food and so keep hunger and malnutrition at bay