- Highlights
- Programme requirements through the end of March stand at about 20,000MT, planned to reach over 2 million beneficiaries. Of this 12,000MT are already resourced.
- The EMOP still requires 7 million US dollars to fund post-harvest nutritional activities until March.
- A total of 52,000 MT have been delivered to date for all activities of the EMOP, reaching over 2.9 million beneficiaries.
- 44,000 MT were delivered to partners for general free food distributions over the period of 8 August through 8 October, reaching 2.3 million beneficiaries.
- WFP's Niger emergency operation is now nearly 65% funded, having received over 37 million US dollars in contributions.
2. SECURITY
Niger is under security phase 0, with the exception of Agadez region which is under phase 1.
3. Operational issues
For the EMOP budget revision, analysis of requirements and current balances/availability has now been finalized and is awaiting final review and launch by the Niger Country Office. It should be launched this week and cleared as soon as possible.
4. Programming ISSUES
4.1 Target populations/beneficiaries
Post Harvest Activities
Continuing EMOP activities through March of 2006 will be focusing on nutrition and rural development activities. Global acute malnutrition rates are particularly high in Niger, and as the problem is recognized as more than just a crisis-based but also a structural one, it is believed that there is a strong need to continue these programs. WFP is currently working with 17 operational partners at approximately 500 fixed or ambulatory centers across the country. Current admissions stand at c. 200,000, and admissions are not expected to fall sharply in the coming months. Distributions through nutritional centers will continue as long as the centers are required and WFP has resources to support them.
On-going activities include supplementary feeding for pregnant and lactating women and for children under 5, a protection ration (preventing division of child's treatment ration among entire family) and a small family ration as an additional support to families in need. WFP has been in discussion with UNICEF, which will continue to ensure complementary activities and a treatment ration for moderately and severely malnourished children.
In addition to these ongoing activities, a Food for Work component of the EMOP is planned.
Cereal Banks
WFP is also planning activities to replenish village cereal banks which were depleted during the crisis. Resources permitting, 5000 MT will be delivered for this purpose in the coming months. Cereal banks are financially independent storage centers which provide village communities with food grain during the lean season. They are community-based institutions usually run by a village or a group of villages, and function in several different ways, depending on the requirements of the community. Generally, the bank stores grain and supplies it to people at times when it is most needed. They are helpful in regulating local cereal markets and provide more secure access to food grain, as well as reducing transport time and effort to often distant markets. Cereal banks have become popular in the Sahel region, and though results are sometimes varying, many banks that WFP has helped furnish through Cooperating Partners had been operational for years up until the time of the crisis.
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