Attachments
In Numbers
Net Funding Requirements: US$ 10.8 m (September 2024 – February 2025)
Total people assisted in August 2024: 12,442
Home-Grown School Feeding Programme: 10,985 school children
Integrated Community-based Food Systems Projects: 1,457 beneficiaries
Operational Updates
WFP and Partners Equip Namibian Farmers with Skills to Process and Market Products to Consumers.
WFP, in partnership with the Capricorn Foundation and the University of Namibia (UNAM), recently conducted an impactful three-day training on value addition in Namibia's Hardap Region. This initiative, part of a broader collaboration between WFP and Capricorn Foundation since 2022, focused on enhancing food and nutrition security through waste reduction and improved nutritional value.
The training engaged 45 participants, primarily youth and women from various farms, imparting skills in food preservation and processing. Attendees learned to transform locally grown produce into value-added products such as juices, pickles, and pastes.
This training is a component of WFP and UNAM's larger effort, which has reached over 600 smallholder farmers across multiple regions in 2023. Notably, GS1 Namibia provided additional training on food safety, market access, and product commercialization strategies, including branding, barcoding, and market research, further enhancing the participants' capabilities in the food value chain.
Namibia Rapid Rural Transformation (RRT) Programme (NARRTP)
WFP is collaborating with the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development (MURD) to implement the NARRTP at Ben Hur Rural Development Centre. As a result, the Anglo-American Foundation has expressed interest in joining this initiative, prompting a site visit on 14 August. During the mission, the foundation confirmed alignment with the organizational ethos, with the next steps involving sharing progress reports.
Concurrently, the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform presented various governance structure models for Ben Hur, outlining subsequent procedural steps. The RRT Committee reached consensus to formalize the status as a cooperative upon full operational implementation. WFP, MURD, and the Rössing Foundation provided updates on their respective support tasks for the RRT site, demonstrating a collaborative approach to rural development in Namibia.
WFP's Emergency Response to the Severe Drought in Namibia
Namibia is facing its worst drought in a century, with 1.26 million people predicted to be in Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) 3+ during the October 2024 - March 2025 lean season, including 100,000 in IPC4. The government has declared a state of emergency and initiated a drought relief programme. WFP has activated an emergency response plan (CONOPS) to provide critical humanitarian assistance.