Attachments
Overview
Key messages
• In 2023, WFP reached over 521,000 people with food assistance, including 449,654 schoolchildren and indirectly benefitted 13,700 people with assets, capacity and knowledge generated.
• Additionally, WFP increased its support towards building resilience to change people’s lives with a food-systems approach, resulting in 27,549 individuals reached.
El Salvador tackled the remnants of the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19, natural hazards and climate variability, especially by the transition between La Niña and El Niño phenomena. The increase in global food, fuel and fertiliser prices severely affected the economy, causing an increase in the basic food basket in urban and rural areas by 28 percent and 30 percent, respectively, in the last three years. The country imports 80 percent of its food whereas 26 percent of families endure multidimensional poverty, facing various challenges such as poor health, malnutrition, inadequate work conditions or limited education opportunities [1]. This scenario aggravated the situation of food insecurity among the Salvadorans, resulting in 17 percent of the population having moderate to severe acute food insecurity [2] levels and challenges in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Against this backdrop, WFP addressed the country's deep-rooted food insecurity and malnutrition, built resilience, addressed climate-related risks, and increased the Government's emergency preparedness and response capacity while working with the United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and academic institutions.
WFP, through its country strategic plan 2022-2027, covers four strategic outcomes: emergency preparedness and response, resilience building and adaptation to climate change, strengthening social protection programmes and service provision as part of its contribution to achieving SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
WFP strengthened the capacity of the Government and the humanitarian community by providing evidence that contributed to informed decision making through:
• national food security and nutrition survey to analyse the food security situation in harvest and lean seasons;
• emergency food security assessment 72 hours after the impact of Tropical Storm Pilar;
• market assessment and price monitoring; and • integrated context analysis to identify patterns of vulnerability in the country.
Overall, WFP increased its footprint by expanding activities, operations and investments by injecting USD 4.1 million into the local economy through cash-based transfers.
In 2023, WFP, under strategic outcome 1, extended assistance in relief, early recovery and resilience building to 521,000 people in El Salvador (more than four times the number reached in 2022), prioritising women, children, older people and people living with HIV. Throughout this period, WFP provided emergency food assistance to 373 people with disability (65 percent women). Under strategic outcome 2, an additional 13,700 people benefitted from asset creation, training, and capacity development initiatives, particularly in communities facing the highest levels of food insecurity and malnutrition. To protect livelihoods and foster longer-term self-reliance, WFP scaled up resilience-building and climate adaptation initiatives, leveraged partnerships across the Humanitarian-Development-Peace nexus and strengthened programme integration under a food system approach. In the department of La Unión, WFP supported 561 smallholder farmers (53 percent women) through a resilience programme, strengthening their capacity in vegetable gardening, water harvesting, soil and water conservation, drip irrigation systems, post-harvest handling and climate risk management, thereby augmenting their resilience to climate variability. Also, WFP strengthened their organization’s capacity and promoted saving groups to be better prepared to deal with shocks. To prioritize community needs and ensure local ownership, WFP conducted Community-based Participatory Planning before designing interventions, enhancing the ownership and sustainability of the programme interventions.
Under its youth vocational training programme, WFP graduated 338 young individuals (53 percent women) benefitting 1,352 people from vulnerable urban settlements at high risk of irregular migration. In 2023, WFP significantly increased the number of youth beneficiaries by 56 percent compared to 2022, primarily through a gastronomy certification known as Gastro-Lab. This initiative gave young people technical training and secured job placements in the private sector. Consequently, youngsters gained regular income (average incomes rose from below the minimum wage to 20 percent above it), enhanced their families’ nutritional well-being and stimulated local economies. WFP collaborated with the Government to establish an additional Gastro-Lab in the department of La Unión, bringing the total to three in El Salvador and increasing the programme's capacity by 30 percent. With the support of the National Council for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, WFP evaluated the suitability of Gastro-Lab facilities to accommodate persons with disabilities. The 2023 Gastro-Lab included two persons with disabilities, and plans to expand this inclusion effort further.
Likewise, WFP improved market access for smallholder producers by strengthening their capacity in associative mechanisms and marketing. This assistance resulted in 51 subsistence smallholder farmers increasing their revenues by selling 173 mt of maize and sorghum in formal markets, thus improving their livelihoods and food security. WFP also trained 90 sorghum producers to prepare snacks with sorghum flour. Overall, this project enhanced the food security of small sorghum producers through capacity strengthening and the inclusion of sorghum production into local food systems for human consumption.
Through school-based programmes, under strategic outcome 3, WFP delivered Biofortik, a nutritious drink made from fortified maize and sorghum, to 449,654 children in 5,100 public schools nationwide by supporting the Government under the School Feeding and Health Programme implemented by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
Moreover, WFP supported the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in enhancing the School Feeding and Health Program by improving its supply chain and piloting the Kitchen-in-a-Box initiative. This innovative project facilitated the provision of schools with easy-to-establish and eco-friendly kitchens.