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Lesotho

WFP Lesotho Country Brief, November 2024

Attachments

In Numbers

USD 32.9 million six months (December 2024 - May 2025) net funding requirements, representing 89 percent of total requirement.

21,623 people assisted in November 2024

Operational Updates

Activity 1: Crisis response

• WFP provided food assistance to 20,725 people (12,062 women) in Qacha’s Nek district as part of the lean season support in response to the declared food insecurity disaster. WFP partnered with 41 retailers to provide food assistance to the targeted people. Complementary to the food assistance, WFP mainstreamed nutrition and climate change education through community gatherings and bulk messaging to influence consumption of nutritious food and help communities become more resilient to climate shocks.

• In preparation for cash assistance planned for December, WFP, through coordination of the Disaster Management Authority, organized community sensitizations for 23,000 people in Maseru, Mohale’s Hoek, Qacha’s Nek and Quthing districts. The sensitisations covered topics such as the selection criteria and entitlements, protections and accountability issues, sexual exploitation and abuse, genderbased violence, anti-fraud and anti-corruption, WASH and food safety, good nutrition and vegetable production as well as the complaints and feedback mechanisms accessible to supported people.

Activity 2: Emergency preparedness

• WFP conducted a comprehensive Capacity Needs Mapping (CNM) exercise across all Country Strategic Plan (CSP) activities in collaboration with relevant government ministries and departments such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Food and Nutrition Coordinating Office and the Disaster Management Authority. The exercise reviewed and updated existing capacity needs assessments to ensure alignment with national priorities and guide WFP’s support under the second generation CSP (2024-2029). It provided critical insights into institutional gaps, strengths, and opportunities for sustainable capacity strengthening. The next step is the development of a capacity strengthening strategy that will outline actionable steps to address identified gaps, enhance institutional effectiveness, strengthen national systems and foster sustainable capacity strengthening across government ministries.

• The Regional Bureau supported the Country Office with conducting a scoping mission to assess and understand the targeting processes used for WFP programmes. The mission included consultations with various stakeholders at both the country and field office levels, as well as engagements with the Disaster Management Authority at national and district levels. Following extensive consultations, the mission recommended the development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for targeting to ensure a consistent, transparent, and effective approach. The development of these SOPs is currently underway and will serve as a critical tool to standardize and strengthen targeting processes across all programmes.

Activity 3: School feeding

• WFP held consultative meetings with different key partners within the education sector to develop a workplan for the Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) project funded by the Global Partnership for Education and coordinated the Ministry of Education and Training through WFP’s support. The aim of the TAF project is to reinforce national capacity to implement increasingly sustainable, gender-responsive and nationally owned school meal programmes that promote local purchase.

• Through the home-grown school feeding project funded by the Government of Monaco, WFP provided locally produced nutritious meals to 581 pre-primary school learners in Mohale’s hoek and Quthing districts. By working with retailers to procure food from the local farmers, WFP is contributing towards the country’s economic development.

Activity 4: End malnutrition

• WFP in collaboration with the Environmental Health Department and the Food and Nutrition Coordinating Office (FNCO), conducted a training workshop for 21 millers (19 percent women) to improve participants’ understanding on the country’s nutrition challenges and the importance of food fortification as a strategic intervention. It also provided guidance on optimal mill setup, including structural requirements, cleanliness, internal safety measures, and the necessary equipment for effective fortification. This training follows the comprehensive assessment of roller millers that was conducted in September to evaluate millers’ knowledge, facilities, and operational capacities in food fortification and overall food safety. The assessment identified critical gaps, including limited understanding of food fortification laws, insufficient knowledge of food handling and safety practices, inadequate milling facilities, and a lack of essential fortification equipment.

Activity 5: Resilience building

• WFP, through the Adaptation Fund project, partnered with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutritiondepartment of marketing to conduct agribusiness management training for 80 people (59 women), inclusive of the nutrition club members and WFP’s resilience building activities participants from Mohale’s Hoek district. The aim of the training was to equip participants on marketing principles and sensitize farmers on the value of sustained production for market access. Key discussions were tailored around marketing principles, local value chain analysis, record-keeping and customer relationship management.

• WFP further worked with the Ministry of Environment and Lesotho Red Cross to conduct fire management and first aid training for 109 people (71 women) in Ha-Khajoane, Mohale’s Hoek district. The community was trained on construction of fire belts, protection of rangeland biodiversity from wildfires and equipped with technical skills on first aid. As a result of the training, the community established the fire management committee and mapped the grazing area where fire belts have been constructed.