Attachments
Highlights
To reaffirm WFP’s commitment to Bhutan – as the country graduates from Least Developed Country status by the end of 2023 – the Deputy Regional Director (DRD) for WFP Asia and the Pacific, Anthea Webb, visited Bhutan from 12 to 16 June. During her mission, the DRD met with government counterparts, visited a school under the National School Feeding and Nutrition Programme, and met members of a farmers group.
Operational Update
• The Deputy Regional Director (DRD) for WFP Asia and Pacific, Anthea Webb, was on a mission from 12 to 16 June. During the visit, the DRD met with government counterparts, visited a school, and met with members of a farmers’ group. In the meetings with government officials, the DRD expressed WFP’s support to Bhutan, as the country graduates from Least Developed Country status. The government is currently formulating its 13th Five-Year Plan. The DRD reiterated WFP’s commitment in aligning the Country Strategic Plan (2024-2028) to the Government’s 13th plan.
• WFP, in partnership with Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock MoAL) conducted out community consultations in Trashigang District to gain insights into climate change adaptation techniques to address crop loss for smallholder farmers. Fifty-one farmers participated in the consultations. The consultations were carried out as part of proposal development to be submitted to the Adaptation Fund’s Large Innovation Grant. In Bhutan, there is no crop insurance while climate events are increasingly causing crop loss.
• WFP initiated the Consolidated Livelihood Exercise for Analyzing Resilience (CLEAR)+ in preparation for the Building Resilient Commercial Smallholder Agriculture (BRECSA) project. CLEAR+ is an analytical approach, developed by WFP to understand how food security and nutrition are or will be affected by the climate crisis. CLEAR+ seeks to align and enhance the results from the National Adaptation Plan to identify climate-resilient livelihoods and value chains for the formulation of agriculture resilience plans.
WFP met with officials from the MoAL and shared insights on the methodological approach of the tool.
• WFP, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD) and the Ministry of Health (MoH), carried out a baseline knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) survey from 29 May to 7 June in 15 schools in Chhukha and Thimphu districts.
With a sample size of 390 randomly selected schoolchildren, the survey measured knowledge, attitude, and practices around healthy diets. The KAP survey is part of the social behaviour change and communication action plan rollout. A similar survey will be carried out among the same group of schoolchildren to measure changes after exposure to SBCC campaigns and activities.
Findings will inform the MoESD and MoH on whether to scale-up the SBCC campaign.
• WFP donated a fixed-wing drone to the De-Suung (Guardians of Peace) to support the national service’s emergency preparedness and response. WFP supports the De-Suung in emergency coordination, logistics and response