Attachments
Highlights
- WFP Nicaragua is in the process of procuring commodities for the first school meals distribution of 2017. Donor support is greatly needed to ensure the successful continuation of these activities.
- On 6 November, Nicaragua held its presidential elections, which resulted in a victory for current president, Daniel Ortega, and his running mate, Rosario Murillo, Coordinator of the Civic Communication Committee and wife to the president. This constitutes Ortega’s third term in power.
- Hurricane Otto was a testimony to the government’s strong capacity to withstand shocks, as well as to the positive outcomes of WFP’s ongoing collaboration on disaster risk reduction and emergency preparedness.
WFP Assistance
The Country Programme (CP) aims to break the inter-generational cycle of undernourishment and hunger among the most vulnerable in Nicaragua.
Through Mother and Child Health activities, WFP provides nutritional support to vulnerable groups living in communities with high chronic malnutrition rates in municipalities recurrently affected by drought in Nueva Segovia and Madriz.
The school meals programme supports access to education with a daily meal to pre and primary school children in the most food insecure municipalities in Jinotega and North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (RACCN). WFP also supports the national strategy with nutrition education, school gardens, infrastructure improvement, technical assistance and training to government staff and strengthening of community organizations.
Through the resilience programme, WFP seeks to ensure that vulnerable communities are better prepared to cope with shocks. Resilience objectives are being mainstreamed primarily through the school garden initiative and smallholder farming activities.
The mitigation and safety nets programme aims to enhance adherence to anti-retroviral therapy (ART) among HIV affected people in Managua and Chinandega.
WFP also supports sustainable development by improving the income of smallholder farmers, connecting them to local markets by leveraging WFP’s food demand and developing farmers’ agricultural production capacity and quality. WFP also leverages its purchasing power to link smallholders to social safety net programmes.
The regional PRRO aims to respond to small and medium scale emergencies through the provision of food assistance to affected families. WFP has contingency stocks available for a rapid response.
This year, WFP provided an additional meal to school children in municipalities most affected by drought in the Dry Corridor. This response is in line with the Government strategy to augment its existing social safety net programmes to reach the most vulnerable.
Children receive a mid-morning meal through the National School Meals Programme and a lunch before going home through the Government’s drought response plan and the PRRO.
WFP plans to support the National System of Disaster Attention, Prevention and Mitigation (SINPARED) capacity in emergency preparedness and response through technical assistance, training, reproduction of materials, simulation exercises and strengthening of community organizations and local governments.