Attachments
In Numbers
- 142,000 mt of food distributed in 2024
- US$ 83 million distributed in cash-based transfers in 2024
- US$ 410 million required for the next six months (January to June 2025)
- 2.1 million people assisted in December 2024
Situation Update
• Over the month of January, the security situation deteriorated significantly in eastern DRC as the M23 rebel group advanced its offensive and seized control of Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu and a key entrepreneurial hub in the region. The advance disrupted access and supply chain including to the Goma airport. Civil unrest ensued and attacks and looting were prevalent in the month, increasing protection risks and violations to civilians and humanitarian workers and security risks to public and private property.
• Given the worsening security situation, WFP relocated its non-critical staff and dependents from Goma and Bukavu over the month and its activities in areas close to frontlines have been temporarily paused.
Operational Updates
• General food assistance: In 2024, WFP distributed inkind and cash assistance to 3.4 million people including internally displaced persons (IDPs), host communities and refugees living in DRC. Despite concerning security situation around DRC, WFP has been able to provide longer term support to the beneficiaries with 6-month rations. The highest number of people assisted in a month in 2024 was 2.1 million (a significant increase from the highest monthly reach of 1.3 million in 2023).
• Nutrition: WFP provided commodities for the treatment and prevention of acute malnutrition to 1.4 million children and pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls. WFP provided nutrition and emergency food assistance to mpox patients in treatment centres in North Kivu.
• School feeding: WFP-supported school feeding programs across six provinces (Kasai Oriental, Kasai Central, Lomami, North Kivu, South Kivu and Tanganyika) reached some 272,000 schoolchildren in 2024.
• Asset creation and livelihoods building: In 2024, WFP supported approximately 131,000 smallholder farmers participating in asset creation and livelihoods-building activities, including land resource management, afforestation, capacity building for increased agricultural production through post-harvest management, literacy skills and alternative income generation activities.