WFP Pakistan Country Brief, March 2016

Highlights

• WFP continues relief food assistance to displaced and returnee populations in the country’s north-west, complemented by livelihoods, nutrition and education support.

• Reduced donor prioritization for Pakistan due to ongoing emergencies in the region has had implication on WFP in terms of resource mobilization.

• Since January 2016, Memoranda of Understanding have been signed between WFP and the Governments of Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and FATA for the implementation of WFP’s new three-year programme of work.

WFP Assistance

In the framework of this new project, WFP will continue working in close partnership with the Government at different levels to ensure improvement of food security and nutrition among displaced and returnee populations, reinforce the resilience of communities living in the most hazard-prone areas, address malnutrition among the most vulnerable segments, particularly pregnant and nursing women and children under five years of age, as well as support a favourable environment for women to achieve social and economic equality. WFP’s specific activities in the county include: life-saving relief food assistance to IDPs and new returnees; school feeding in FATA, livelihoods support activities in areas of return in FATA and drought-affected districts of Sindh; nutrition programmes in KP, FATA, Sindh, Balochistan and Pakistan Administered Kashmir regions; community-based disaster risk reduction interventions in the most hazard-prone and food insecure locations; and developing the Government’s capabilities in disaster risk management and other areas linked with food security and nutrition. In 2016, WFP is targeting 3.4 million people for assistance.

WFP’s Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) activities particularly target highly vulnerable groups who have lost their productive assets and livelihoods during crises resulting from natural (floods, earthquakes and droughts) or human induced disasters (displacement). FFA activities are implemented using a combination of cash and food modalities depending on the availability of infrastructure, services and food in the targeted areas and local markets.

WFP’s initiative in developing and producing specialised nutritious products for the treatment and prevention of malnutrition supports local producers in improving the quality and quantity of production with the added benefit of stimulating the economy, creating employment and raising food safety standards. WFP purchases most commodities for its food assistance locally. WFP locally mills and fortifies with an enhanced vitamin and mineral premix. Along with key actors, WFP has been working on supporting a national strategy for wheat flour fortification that builds local capacity to mill and fortify wheat for the commercial sector. To place food security and nutrition at the centre of the national development agenda and support achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 2 “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture”, WFP has been supporting the Government in the National Zero Hunger and Scale-Up Nutrition (SUN) initiatives (since 2012) and the formulation of multi-sectoral policies and strategies. WFP is also engaged in supporting the Government for food security and nutrition-related assessments and analyses which provide an evidence base for informed programming and policy decisionmaking.

The construction and installation of Humanitarian Response Facilities and emergency storage facilities (flospans) aim at augmenting the emergency and disaster response capabilities of the Government as well as the international humanitarian community.
Operational Updates

• Relief food assistance to IDPs and returnees (supported by relief food packages for a period of six-months following their resettlement, prior to transitioning to early recovery activities) is currently ongoing.

• WFP continues its FFA programmes (using cash and food as modalities) in newly return areas of FATA (Bara tehsil) as well as flood and earthquake affected districts of KP (Chitral, Shangla and Bajaur).

• From 29-31 March, a three-day Climate Risk Management for Disaster Risk Reduction training was held in Islamabad. Participants from WFP, government officials working on disaster risk management, UN agencies and other partners, attended the training.

• A series of trainings were organized by the National Institute for Disaster Management in Peshawar and by WFP jointly with the National Humanitarian Network in Sukkur and Hyderabad.

• The baseline survey for WFP’s new three-year project was launched in March.

• A meeting was organized by WFP to share the intermediate achievements and trends of the Stunting Prevention project which is being implemented by the Government of Sindh in Thatta and Sajawal Districts since May 2014.