Attachments
Overview
Key messages
Comprehensive Reach: WFP's initiatives reached over 20,000 individuals, making significant contributions to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero Hunger) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
Resilience Amid Challenges: Amid climate change challenges, irregular rainfall, and economic shocks, WFP provided support, including food assistance and climate-based early warning systems to enhance resilience in vulnerable Namibian communities.
Holistic Approach to Rural Development: Beyond food assistance, activities encompass nutritional education, home-grown school feeding, and food systems. These efforts aim to address hunger while fostering sustainable development by empowering communities with skills, knowledge, jobs, finance and market linkages.
Changing Lives in Namibia through Sustainable Food Systems
In 2023, WFP advanced its mission in Namibia through the Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2017-2024, making significant contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a focus on SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
Despite Namibia's classification as an upper middle-income country by the World Bank, which limits access to development assistance, persistent challenges necessitated effective partnerships with government, the private sector, UN agencies and local organizations to comprehensively enhance rural development.
The severity and magnitude of acute food insecurity in Namibia have risen steadily since 2019. In 2023, Namibia experienced notable fluctuations in its food security situation. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), during the last part of the lean season, from January to March, around 390,000 individuals, or 15 percent of the population, faced high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above). This was particularly evident in 6 out of 14 Namibian regions - Kavango East, Kavango West, Kunene, Omaheke, Oshikoto, and Otjozondjupa - all classified as being in a Crisis phase [1]. Factors such as inflation, rising fuel costs, and the repercussions of the Russia-Ukraine conflict largely drove this situation. However, the scenario worsened further from July to September, with 579,000 people, or 22 percent of the population, grappling with severe food insecurity. During this period, only the Erongo and Khomas regions were in a less severe Stressed state (IPC Phase 2), while the other 12 regions faced a Crisis situation [2]. This decline was primarily due to climatic and price shocks, exacerbated by economic downturns and rising unemployment.
Engaging with various stakeholders, WFP reached 6 percent of those facing food insecurity (in IPC3+). With a focus on strengthening national capacities, WFP solidified partnerships with the Government, private sector, and local organizations across all 14 regions. Given Namibia's semi-desert status and the irregular rainfall in 2023, WFP responded to the resulting food insecurity with a comprehensive approach. In partnership with Catholic AIDS Action (CAA), the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), the Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare (MGEPESW), and Namibia’s Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC), WFP implemented a targeted food assistance programme. Through the generous contribution from the Government of the Republic of Japan, USD 500,000 of in-kind food assistance was provided through WFP to 20,345 programme participants in the Kunene, Oshikoto and Omaheke regions. These regions were targeted due to their high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition particularly among pregnant and lactating women.
Focusing on changing the lives of vulnerable populations, particularly women and youth, WFP collaborated with the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture (MoEAC) on a pilot home-grown school feeding programme (HGSFP). This initiative not only diversified diets but also played a pivotal role in maintaining the attendance of 10,985 students across seven regions, according to MoEAC records. This represents an 11 percent increase from the 9,762 students enrolled in 2021 before the pilot began, highlighting the critical link between food systems, rural transformation, and the development of human capital.
WFP contributed significantly to sustainable development by addressing nutritional deficiencies and empowering community members and local health care workers. It offered comprehensive nutrition education, covering food groups, micronutrient deficiencies, and healthy cooking methods, guided by the detailed Nutrition and Food Security Alliance of Namibia (NAFSAN) Nutrition for Health manual. [3] In nutritional education, WFP utilized diverse media outlets such as the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) radio and social media to empower over 50,000 community members, including smallholder farmers, pregnant and breastfeeding women, people living with HIV/AIDS, youth and men. The campaign focused on the importance of indigenous recipes, exclusive breastfeeding, and appropriate complementary feeding practices to encourage social behaviour changes.
In facing climate challenges, WFP played a crucial role in enhancing climate-based early warning systems and collaborating with key government agencies and UN sister agencies. In 2023, WFP significantly contributed to Namibia's resilience and climate adaptation efforts by enhancing Early Warning Systems, collaborating with government bodies on the National Resilience Building Strategy and Vulnerability Assessment Analysis, introducing the Three-Pronged Approach for climate resilience, conducting workshops, leading the environmental pillar of the UN Partnership Framework, and planning future priorities for multi-stakeholder capacity building, renewable energy exploration, and digital transformation. The organization facilitated rural transformation via 12 community-based food systems projects, benefiting over 2,000 direct recipients including more than 300 smallholder farmers provided with training, input, equipment, and infrastructure. This initiative reinforced skills and technology creating over 350 agricultural jobs. WFP's support to food systems not only generated over USD 28,000 in income but also forged essential connections to the national market. Across various sites, over 100 metric tons of agricultural produce were harvested. This collective effort significantly bolstered Namibia's food production capacity, marking a pivotal step towards reducing its dependence on imported food sources. WFP's commitment to rural transformation was evident through innovative initiatives such as the Ondera and Tsumkwe food systems projects along with partnerships involving the Namibian Correctional Service and community-based integrated projects. This commitment extends to supporting government programmes, enhancing institutional strength, and undertaking digital transformation efforts all contributing to recovery and resilience.
The evaluation of the current CSP (2017-2024) was completed in 2023.[4] The insights gained from the evaluation informed management response in the development of the next CSP termed the Second Generation CSP (2GCSP 2025-2029), ensuring a continued impactful presence of WFP in Namibia to reach the ambitious goals of collaborative efforts for sustainable development and zero hunger.[5]