Attachments
Overview
In Senegal, WFP works with the government and partners to address the persistent challenges related to food insecurity and malnutrition. Its core mission is to provide vital assistance and support to vulnerable populations affected by hunger, poverty, and various crises, including natural hazards and socio-economic challenges. It includes assistance during the lean season while implementing sustainable programs to improve food security, nutrition, and community resilience. Its comprehensive approach includes capacity strengthening, technical support, and promoting long-term solutions to address underlying causes of food insecurity. The persistent hunger and nutrition-related challenges in Senegal are attributed to several interrelated factors. The Cadre Harmonisé reports of March and November 2023 highlighted key issues, such as decreased food availability due to diminished stocks in specific regions and escalated prices of essential commodities, particularly staple foods.
Additionally, recurrent climatic adversities severely impact agricultural yield, influencing food supply. Socio-economic vulnerabilities, constrained access to vital resources, deterioration of land and natural resources, and unequal distribution mechanisms intensify these issues, with rural areas disproportionately affected. This multifaceted situation underscores the need for comprehensive and targeted strategies to address food insecurity in Senegal.
People most affected by hunger and malnutrition in Senegal include crisis-affected households and communities, including those exposed to climatic shocks and other risks, people living with HIV (PLHIV) or with a disability, food insecure population, children, pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls (PBW/G) and other nutritionally vulnerable people and school-aged children. These groups often lack access to adequate and nutritious food, making them particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. In 2023, WFP was only able to reach 510,141 people, a significant decrease compared to the previous year due to a combination of factors including limited funding, which covered only a fraction of the needs, leading to a limited intervention scope. Operational challenges, such as logistical difficulties in remote areas, and a strategic shift towards more intensive, quality-focused nutrition programmes also contribute to the decrease. Environmental factors like droughts and floods, the global economic downturn, and inflation also affected resource availability and programme scaling. Despite these challenges, WFP maintained a strong emphasis on the effectiveness and quality of its support to the beneficiaries it could reach. Gender components were integrated into all programmatic actions to ensure effective gender-sensitive results. This year, WFP made considerable progress in ensuring the protection and accountability for affected populations, PLHIV and people with disabilities.
In targeted departments, WFP continued to successfully improve the nutritional status of vulnerable populations, including children, and PBW/G. WFP distributed specialized nutritious foods (SNF), assisting more than 24,000 children in addressing moderate acute malnutrition (MAM). In supporting vulnerable populations in crisis-affected areas, WFP provided food assistance to 9,000 households. To build community resilience and sustainable food systems, WFP facilitated agricultural insurance for 23,700 households, exceeding the target, which reflects successful awareness-raising efforts. The success of WFP's agricultural insurance model through the Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) programme has been recognized and exported beyond Senegal, influencing practices in The Gambia.
This year, WFP noticed a clear trend towards improved integration and strengthening of connections between its activities, particularly school meal programmes, nutrition, and resilience. The school meals programme acts as a cornerstone, ensuring the consistent nutritional intake necessary for educational success and long-term resilience. By providing specialized nutritious foods and integrating fortified rice and fonio into diets, WFP is directly contributing to building resilience against health issues like malnutrition. Providing agricultural insurance and support to savings groups through these activities also addresses the economic aspects of resilience, ensuring that communities can sustain their nutritional gains. Thus, efforts to improve overall community nutrition and economic resilience simultaneously contribute to a more sustainable and holistic approach to tackling food insecurity and malnutrition. This synergy underscores the importance of integrated programming in addressing vulnerable populations' multifaceted challenges.
In 2023, WFP continued collaborating closely with the Government of Senegal, aligning its activities with national policies and strategies. It provided technical expertise, capacity strengthening, and assistance to strengthen the government's efforts in addressing food insecurity, thereby supporting the overall direction towards achieving food security and sustainable development goals. Thanks to WFP advocacy and technical support, during the School Meals Coalition Summit in Paris in October 2023, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Education of Senegal officially declared that the national school meals programme would start in the first quarter of 2024 aiming to reach 1.4 million children in more than 7,500 schools in rural and peri-urban areas by 2026. The school meal programme serves as a crucial entry point for reducing hunger globally and contributes significantly towards achieving SDG 2.