Attachments
Overview
In 2022, as Niger was facing an unprecedented food crisis, WFP scaled up its life-saving assistance to reach those in critical need whilst reinforcing resilience activities to support advancements of sustainable food security solutions. In coordination with the Government and partners, WFP assisted close to 4.2 million people through direct food and nutrition assistance.
The March 2022 Cadre Harmonisé[1] found that 4.4 million people were acutely food insecure during the lean season (June - August). The nutrition situation also remained worrying, with the 2022 SMART [2] survey indicating a global acute malnutrition (GAM) rate of 12.2 percent, above WHO’s alert threshold of 10 percent. The crisis was driven by the combined effects of a major and widespread drought, the global food price crisis, and insecurity in Niger and neighbouring countries.
Through crisis response activities, WFP provided food, cash, and nutrition assistance to 2.3 million people affected by various shocks - the lean season, conflict, displacement, and floods. This represented over half of the country’s acutely food insecure population in 2022, and 56 percent of the overall beneficiaries assisted by the government and partners during the lean season (4.1 million people).
Through its integrated resilience programme, WFP supported 1.8 million people across 2,000 villages, of which 588 were newly established in 2022. WFP’s resilience model in Niger provides an integrated package of activities including land rehabilitation through food assistance for assets (FFA), school feeding, nutrition prevention and treatment, and income-generating activities. In 2022, WFP supported the graduation from direct FFA assistance through to reinforced capacity strengthening of 551 villages that had been receiving resilience-building support since 2014. This was the first year WFP was able to secure this transition with ongoing assistance to communities focusing on strengthened smallholder market support.
In 2022, in support of the local economy, WFP continued purchasing millet and cowpeas (approximately USD 430,000) directly from 21 farmer organisations in resilience areas. Wherever possible, these organisations were also linked with WFP-supported schools that received cash assistance, allowing schools to purchase fresh food that benefits the local markets.
Results from the post-distribution monitoring survey conducted in December found that food security levels among resilience beneficiaries continued improving between 2021 and 2022, demonstrating the role of resilience programmes in helping households cope with shocks. Encouragingly, the same trend was seen among households that graduated out of FFA support in 2022 showcasing the sustained impacts of investment in resilience programming even after direct food assistance stops. This further validates the long-term benefits of land rehabilitation to increase production and mitigate the impact of climatic shocks.
To support vulnerable children in accessing education, including in conflict-affected regions, WFP provided school meals to 279,000 students in 1,586 schools. In addition, almost 29,300 adolescent girls received attendance-based scholarships from WFP to address gender inequalities in the retention rates of adolescent students. Given the worrying nutrition situation, WFP provided treatment for Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM), to over 475,000 children aged 6-23 months and mothers, and supported 120,000 children and mothers with assistance for the prevention of MAM.
Throughout 2022, WFP made significant progress to support the operationalization of the humanitarian-development-peace Nexus. To support the transition from humanitarian assistance towards more sustainable solutions, WFP provided resilience activities in combination with social cohesion support in areas where the risk of insecurity remains high and that are hosting IDPs [3] and refugees. WFP sustained investments in the national social adaptative protection (ASP) system to foster vulnerable households' and local authorities' responsiveness to the onset of shocks.
WFP continued to invest heavily in impactful partnerships collaborating with the Government, the UN (in particular UNICEF[5], FAO[6], IFAD [7] and UNFPA[8]), NGOs and other partners such as GIZ[4]. WFP also continued to strengthen the reach and effectiveness of its Community Feedback Mechanism (CFM)[9], expanding its toll-free hotline to support FAO activities. Furthermore, gender and protection analyses were further mainstreamed throughout programme design and implementation.
Despite these significant achievements, the global price crisis placed a severe burden on WFP operations, disrupting the supply chain and increasing food and transportation costs. High fuel prices impacted UNHAS operations, with prices increasing by 33 percent between January and December 2022. Nevertheless, UNHAS[10] transported 17,200 passengers in 2022, an 19 percent increase compared to 2021.