Attachments
Overview
Key messages
• WFP scaled up its emergency response to assist 1 million people affected by cyclones and droughts in remote areas.
• WFP expanded its community-based platforms to prevent all forms of malnutrition, including the nutrition learning and rehabilitation centers aimed at fostering local solutions in line with the new WHO wasting guidelines.
• WFP’s rapid rural transformation initiative has had a significant impact on the lives of beneficiaries, including improvements in health and hygiene, increased food availability through community greenhouse gardens, and increased digital literacy.
In 2023, Madagascar was hit by one severe tropical storm, one cyclone, and a continued drought. These natural disasters, combined with high food price inflation, exacerbated the vulnerability of poor households and set back progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Despite some improvements in the Great South due to emergency interventions since the end of 2022, the situation remained fragile, with widespread malnutrition and food insecurity [1]. Additionally, new areas of vulnerability were observed in southeastern and southwestern Madagascar due to the repetitive cyclones. In 2023, due to worsening climatic factors, WFP increased its coverage to meet increased needs, reaching more people than planned. WFP assisted 3.15 million individuals, comprising girls, boys, women, and men, including 19,000 persons with disabilities. This was a 13 percent increase in people assisted compared to 2022, and 141 percent of the planned number. WFP collaborated with the Government to assist people in southern Madagascar during cyclones and droughts, providing food assistance and cash transfers to 2 million people across 27 affected districts. Additionally, as part of the response, WFP offered preventive supplementary feeding to 52,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women, as well as 105,000 children aged 6 to 59 months.
WFP continued to be the largest provider of school meals, supporting 361,000 children in 988 public schools. In 2023,
WFP expanded its home-grown school meals programme from 123 schools in 2022 to 348 schools in 2023, promoting local procurement of fresh food from smallholder farmers. School attendance rates in 2023 increased to 82 percent from 76 percent in 2022.
WFP scaled up nutrition interventions, providing treatment and prevention support to 28,000 children, 35,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women, 13,000 tuberculosis patients, and 11,000 people living with HIV. WFP also expanded the reach of its social and behaviour change communications activities. Positive progress was observed in the minimum diversity diet among children under 2 who received nutrition assistance. WFP also supported the Government by organizing and participating in the launch of the National Nutrition Policy 2022-2030.
WFP expanded its resilience activities by providing livelihood opportunities and strengthening household and community productive capacities for 92,000 people (52 percent women) through asset creation and skills training activities. WFP supported 102,000 smallholder farmers, providing training on post-harvest losses, support for agricultural production, food diversification, and climate change adaptation practices. WFP also collaborated with government institutions responsible for disaster risk management, updating an anticipatory action tool and activating anticipatory action protocols in Betioky and Betroka districts.
In September 2023, WFP and UNICEF launched a five-year joint programme to enhance malnutrition prevention in four drought-prone communes in the south. In December 2023, WFP, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, signed a multi-year agreement facilitated by the World Bank. This agreement aims to support 20,000 smallholder farmers for the school feeding programme, which targets the improvement of nutrition for 240,000 primary school children through the supply of fresh produce.
In 2023, the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) transported 3,000 passengers, 169 mt of cargo, and conducted 5 medical evacuations.
WFP prioritized gender equality and the integration of gender and age across its activities. During the planning and targeting phases, WFP and its cooperating partners established targeting committees with local communities, ensuring that half of the members are women. Similarly, complaint and reconciliation committees were formed during the implementation phase, following the same criteria. WFP achieved a gender and age marker code of 3.