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WFP Myanmar Country Brief, January 2017

Attachments

Highlights

  • After being granted sustained access to all operational areas to which access was cut off since 9 October as well as new areas in the northern part of Rakhine State, WFP delivered life-saving food to 40,000 of the most affected people.
  • Clashes between government forces and ethnic armed groups in the northern part of northern Shan State continued to restrict WFP assistance in the area.
  • In Kachin State, intensified fighting between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and government military posed obstacles to WFP activities.

WFP Assistance

In 2015, WFP extended its Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO), which was launched in January 2013, until the end of 2017 to harmonise it with the work of the United Nations Country Team. The current PRRO contributes to more equitable development and supports national reconciliation by reducing poverty, food insecurity and undernutrition, responding to disasters and increasing resilience among the most vulnerable. Aligned with Sustainable Development Goals and the Zero Hunger Challenge, the specific objectives of the PRRO are to 1) prepare for and respond to natural disasters and other shocks in support of the Government; 2) assist post-disaster recovery by rehabilitating productive assets to improve household food security and create socioeconomic opportunities for the most vulnerable; 3) address undernutrition among children and pregnant women and nursing mothers (PNM), and support at-risk groups such as people living with HIV (PLHIV) and tuberculosis (TB) clients; 4) improve access, enrolment and attendance to primary schools; and 5) improve the sustainability of responses to food insecurity and undernutrition through knowledge-sharing and capacity development.

WFP aims to reach its objectives through five major activities:

Relief – WFP has been providing life-saving food assistance to 280,000 people displaced and/or affected by conflicts, violence and natural disasters. Both in 2015 and 2016, WFP assisted people affected by floods. As of September 2016, WFP has reached 179,520 flood victims with food and cash assistance, in Ayeyarwaddy, Bago, Magway and Mandalay Regions and in Rakhine State.

WFP and FAO co-lead the Food Security Sector (FSS) since 2014, which has been responding to food and/or cash needs of people affected by ethnic conflicts and natural disasters.

Nutrition – Linking with the national health system and in line with the national protection scheme, WFP provides nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive support for 140,000 pregnant women and nursing mothers and malnourished young children.

HIV/TB programme – As balanced nutrition is pivotal for people living with HIV or TB clients to keep their immune system strong in order to fight the diseases. WFP provides food-by-prescription to 23,000 PLHIV and TB clients aiming to enhance their adherence and treatment success.

Community Asset Creation – WFP strengthens community resilience by creating community infrastructures and providing 200,000 people with either cash or food in exchange for participating in asset creation activities.

School Feeding - In support of the country’s National Social Protection Strategic Plan and the 2016-2021 National Educational Strategic Plan, WFP and the Ministry of Education have started working towards nationalisation of the school feeding programme from the 2015/16 academic year onwards. WFP aims to feed half a million school children in the 2016/17 academic year.

Furthermore, WFP, in collaboration with the Ministry of Livestock, Fishery and Rural Development, has completed Food Security and Poverty Estimation surveys in 2015 and is developing the country’s first-ever Food Security Atlas, contributing to the advancement of national food security and poverty reduction policies and strategies.

WFP has also supported the Government in establishing nine resource centres across the country, enhancing national capacity of sustainable food security monitoring.