In Numbers
8,222 mt of food assistance distributed
US$ 5.55 m cash-based transfers made
US$ 45.9 m six months (November 2019 to April 2020) net funding requirements, of which US$ 44.38 m is for the Cox’s Bazar L2 Emergency Response
1.25 million people assisted in October 2019
Operational Updates
• In October, WFP assisted 837,920 refugees with integrated food assistance. WFP provided 394,965 refugees with in-kind food distributions, and 442,955 refugees with e-vouchers to exchange for up to 20 food items at e-voucher outlets in the camps.
• The Executive Board of WFP visited Cox’s Bazar from 21-23 October led by the President, H.E. Hisham Mohamed Badr of Egypt and representatives from Australia, Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, Poland, and Switzerland. They visited programme sites and interacted with beneficiaries to better understand needs and forthcoming challenges to ensure uninterrupted service delivery to the affected population.
• After handing over two locations for the school feeding programme, WFP Bangladesh is now assisting 200,015 school children in 1,693 schools within host communities located in Cox’s Bazar districts. 19,467 are receiving nutritious cooked meals made from fortified rice, red lentil, fortified vegetable oil, eggs and fresh vegetables five days a week. The remaining 180,548 children are receiving micronutrient fortified biscuits six days a week. This includes 40,743 students in Chattogram Hill Tracts (52% boys and 48% girls).
• WFP continued its Food Security and Nutrition (EFSN) programme in the Chattogram Hill Tracts which supports 10,000 people, with a focus on reaching 2,000 vulnerable women participants. Currently, WFP is facilitating social and behavioral change communication (SBCC) sessions to improve household nutrition practices.
• In collaboration with the Government, WFP distributed fortified rice to 2.3 million beneficiaries through the Food Friendly Programme (FFP) and Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) programme. This includes a monthly allowance of BDT 1,050 (US$ 12) for each beneficiary to cover essential household consumption needs.
• The Ministry of Food will scale-up the distribution of fortified rice in 100 sub-districts under FFP in 2020, with technical support from WFP. WFP is also exploring opportunities for further scale-up of fortified rice distribution in 100 sub-districts through the VGD programme in 2020.
• WFP’s Field Operations, Rangpur Field Office, Logistic Cluster, IT and Supply Chain Units participated in the Disaster Response Exercise & Exchange (DREE) in Dhaka and Rangpur Cantonment from 27-31 Oct. DREE is a civil-military disaster preparedness and response initiative between the Governments of the United States and Bangladesh.
• On 1 October, WFP organized a Disability Inclusion Capacity Building Workshop for staff members. WFP also held training sessions on nutrition-sensitive programming for staff members on 24-30 October.
• On 17 October, WFP participated in an Introduction to Forecast-based Early Action (FbA) Approach & Projects Workshop, organized by CARE Bangladesh in Kurigram District. WFP shared its experience and lessons learned.
The Additional Secretary of Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, Mr. Md. Mohsin, was Chief Guest and the Deputy Commissioner of Kurigram, Ms.
Sultana Parvin chaired the workshop.