Attachments
In Numbers
233.885 MT of food assistance distributed
USD 931,096.50 cash-based transfers (CBT) distributed
USD 29.3 million six months (June – November 2023) net funding requirements, representing 76 percent of total requirements
241,150 people assisted in May 2023
Operational Updates
Refugee Assistance:
• WFP provided food and nutrition assistance to 122,240 people, including 105,708 refugees, 7,826 asylum seekers, 8,456 host community children, and 250 Rwandan returnees. This included USD 948,031 of cash-based transfers, allowing eligible refugees to buy food of their choice, as well as cash to schools for the parent contribution. Refugee and host community children attending the same schools in Kiziba camp and at the Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre in Mahama camp received school meals.
• Since November 2022, insecurity in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been displacing an increasing number of people due to armed violence in the area. By end-May, 7,661 asylum seekers had arrived in Rwanda. WFP is providing in-kind food and nutrition assistance to them.
Emergency Response:
• Prolonged and heavy rains in the Northern and Western Provinces on the nights of 2 and 3 May 2023, resulted in landslides and floods in ten districts, damaging houses and causing internal displacement. WFP supported the Ministry in charge of Emergency Management with an initial 10 Mobile Storage Units and provided food and nutrition assistance to over 5,000 internally displaced people.
School Feeding:
• In collaboration with the Ministry of Education and districts, WFP provided daily healthy school meals to 118,146 students in 140 schools. This aims to improve children’s concentration in school, health, and nutrition, and reduce school absenteeism.
• Cash-based transfers to WFP-supported schools enabled the provision of fortified rice, beans, and fortified wholegrain maize meal three days per week. According to school reports, cash-based transfers greatly enhance the nutritional value of the meal because schools purchase fresh fruits, vegetables, and animal-source protein, such as dried fish thus providing school children with much-needed nutrients.
• WFP, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Trade and Industry, is piloting a quantitative mapping of food commodity needs from schools at the district level in Nyamagabe. This will be compared against the available supply of food in the district, and the results will inform the Government and other partners on best practices and challenges that need to be addressed to ensure successful implementation of the National School Feeding Programme, with a focus on linkages to local producers.
Resilient livelihoods:
• Following the heavy rains and landslides, WFP conducted an assessment to determine the extent of damage of Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) project in Karongi, Rutsiro, and Nyaruguru.
• WFP distributed small livestock to 108 beneficiaries (45 female) in Kayonza, Nyamagabe, and Nyaruguru to increase their income and livelihood. 70 beneficiaries (31 female) received rainwater harvest tanks in support of small-scale household irrigation.
• WFP conducted refresher trainings for 74 trainers of trainers (39 female) in Rusenge, Kaduha, and Rwankuba sectors to promote gender-transformative decision-making at the household level and gender awareness in the communities.
Social Protection:
• WFP and the Local Administrative Development Entities Agency (LODA) disseminated the findings and recommendations of the diagnostic report of the national social protection Complaints Management System (CMS). An operating manual to guide the system modifications has been completed and will inform the remaining scope of work for a functional CMS to be achieved.
Smallholder farmer market access support:
• The primary agriculture season for 2023 is drawing to a close.
Between January and May 2023, farmer organizations that receive support from WFP have successfully sold approximately 15,000 metric tons of maize, beans, rice, and Irish potatoes to formal buyers generating over USD 7 million in revenue.
Monitoring:
• The average cost of the food basket was RWF 13,178 in May, representing a 5.1 percent decrease from April 2023 (RWF 13,882), and a 43 percent increase compared to May 2022. The food basket cost decreased across all camps. The observed decrease is linked to the decreased food commodity prices such as of beans and maize grain, which fell by 12 percent and 6 percent, respectively, compared to April 2023. This could be related to the availability of food stocks from the ongoing season 2023B harvest, which began in May 2023.
Challenges:
• WFP requires USD 29.3 million for the next six months (May– November 2023), representing 76 percent of the total funding requirement for planned activities. Of this, USD 23.3 million is required to restore full food rations to refugees hosted in Rwanda, in line with a targeting mechanism where WFP provides support based on vulnerability status, as well as to support new asylum seekers and Rwandan returnees.
• WFP also requires USD 1.9 million to assist 18,854 local Rwandans affected by the heavy rain in western and northern provinces with 1 month of in-kind food commodities and 2 months of cash-based transfer.
• WFP also needs USD 1.2 million in complementary funding for the year 2023 for the home-grown school feeding programme to procure locally produced fresh foods sourced from markets near schools, in line with the national school feeding programme.
• WFP is facing a shortfall of USD 400,000 for strengthening the national social protection system, required to meet the technical assistance commitments to the Government for enhanced shock response.
• In addition, WFP needs USD 576,606 to continue nutrition capacity strengthening activities and support the Government’s stunting prevention efforts.