Attachments
Overview
Although rich in natural resources, Guinea faces significant socioeconomic challenges. Its natural endowments do not guarantee the sustainable development of the country. The poverty rate is alarming and a large share of the country's 13.9 million inhabitants [1] remain food insecure and malnourished [2], with limited access to basic education and health services, especially in rural areas. These issues are exacerbated by persistent gender inequalities, political instability, restricted market access, and fragile food systems that are increasingly affected by climate-related shocks.
Guinea is one of the most vulnerable countries to the climate crisis in West Africa [3]. Communities face multiple risks, such as droughts, deforestation, soil degradation, and flooding compounded by informal mining activities and unsustainable agricultural practices. To overcome the paradox of a resource-rich nation struggling with widespread poverty and systemic fragility, the country needs to develop infrastructure services to unlock sustainable development and offer a new window of opportunity to build efficient food systems that allow farmers to produce qualitatively diversified food accessible in adequate quantity to vulnerable populations.
WFP has been active in Guinea since 1964, improving food and nutrition security, while boosting sustainable agricultural development. In response to a deteriorating food security situation - with 6 percent of the population facing crisis levels of food insecurity in the June to August 2023 lean season period [4] - WFP continues to implement its Interim Country Strategic Plan (I-CSP) 2019-2024, supporting the Government in meeting the growing needs of vulnerable people, particularly in rural areas.
In line with Sustainable Development Goals 2: Zero Hunger (SDG 2) and 17: Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17), WFP continued to successfully deliver lifesaving emergency food assistance in 2023. This promoted education through school feeding, strengthened malnutrition prevention and treatment, enhanced emergency preparedness and supply chain management programmes, and supported smallholder farmers (both women and men) in building resilient livelihoods through community-based multi-sectoral and integrated packages. Overall, WFP assisted 1.1 million people (49 percent women), a significant increase compared to 383,099 people reached in 2022. Additional funds received explain this variance, as they allowed WFP to scale up operations. In 2023, WFP continued to drive its active collaboration with the Government of Guinea to foster national ownership of all interventions. Benefitting from this close collaboration, WFP was chosen as the implementing partner for the Food Shock Window project [5] (financed by the International Monetary Fund) to help countries address food insecurity. The project guaranteed a budget of USD 20 million which enabled WFP to scale up and reach one million food-insecure people in the most vulnerable areas in Guinea, primarily through in-kind food assistance during the 2023 lean season. A budget revision was undertaken in July 2023 to include these funds in the I-CSP.
Through WFP’s active engagement with the Government, a range of activities that advanced SDG 2 implementation were accomplished. This included Guinea signing up for the Global School Meals Coalition, which seeks to urgently improve and scale up school meal programmes to ensure every child’s opportunity to receive a healthy, nutritious meal in school by 2030. WFP supported a total of 57,933 children aged 6-59 months, pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls (PBW/G), and clients requiring antiretroviral therapy (ART) and Tuberculosis (TB) treatment with specialized nutritious foods under the Malnutrition Treatment and Prevention Program in 2023.
The "Zero Hunger Village" project is a cornerstone of WFP’s work in Guinea and comes from a collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. The initiative, launched in 2022, offers an innovative approach to reinforce rice value chains, aiming to achieve zero hunger within a two-year framework. The project uses a high-yield rice variant imported from South Korea and developed in Senegal, showing promising results in increased local productivity.
Initially piloted in 7 villages, it expanded to 13 in 2023. WFP also collaborated with United Nations agencies and grassroots organizations for peace consolidation among communities in 2023.
Throughout the year, WFP made considerable progress toward digitalizing beneficiaries' information. Registrations on the corporate, personal information, and transfer management platform (SCOPE) ensured better management of individuals' identities and secure delivery of assistance. Through three financial service providers, WFP scaled up its cash-based transfer (CBT) operations via mobile money.
In line with SDG 17, WFP has managed the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) in Guinea since 2021. In 2023, this has supported the efficient transportation of 1,665 humanitarian personnel and 16,5 mt of essential goods to crisis-affected areas for the delivery of effective responses. Moreover, WFP continued to provide on-demand services, which included logistics, engineering, and information technology.
Furthermore, WFP focused on broadening partnership opportunities with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private resource partners to enhance its operational portfolio of activities especially in delivering immediate assistance. Strengthening national, local, and community-level capacities remained a priority. Leveraging its expertise, WFP supported partners in fleet management, supply chain data analytics, and emergency preparedness response.
In 2024, WFP will leverage its successful and long-lasting partnerships with the Government of Guinea and other national and international partners to ensure multiple objectives are met, including providing nutrition support to crisis-affected populations, PBW/G, vulnerable populations, and people at risk of malnutrition. WFP also aims to build the resilience of communities whose livelihoods are at risk - including smallholder farmers, strengthen national systems and institutions capacity and provide logistics services to effectively and efficiently support vulnerable populations.
To take stock of the progress achieved and improve future programming, an independent evaluation of the I-CSP was commissioned by the WFP Office of Evaluation in 2023. It covered all activities carried out from 2018 to 2023. The evaluation report will be published in early 2024. The findings and recommendations informed the design of the new CSP 2024-2029.