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Highlights
- WFP Country Director and OCHA Head of Office visit Wau, urging local authorities to ensure security and safety of humanitarian staff.
- SCOPE biometric registrations near completion in Panyijar county.
- Market price monitoring highlights dramatic increases in food prices. In February 2017, a food basket in Juba costs five times as much as the year before.
Situation Update
- In a visit to Wau on 19 April, Directors of WFP, OCHA, UNICEF and IOM urged local authorities to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian staff. This visit followed the killing of three workers contracted as porters by WFP’s office in Wau, Western Bahr El Ghazal, last week. A recent upsurge in violence starting on 10 April has displaced at least 13,500 people in Wau, according to IOM. WFP is closely monitoring the situation in order to continue its assistance to people in need.
- Since 13 February, WFP in collaboration with IOM, has registered a total of 69,389 individuals or 15,494 households in SCOPE across seven sites in Panyijar county. To date, 318,000 individuals have been registered in WFP’s beneficiary and transfer management platform across South Sudan. This platform provides opportunities for strategic partnerships for enhanced efficiency.
- WFP’s latest monthly market price bulletin highlights a continued weakening of the South Sudanese Pound against the US Dollar, and dramatic increases in food prices, which contribute significantly to the overall inflation rate. The price of cereals and bread increased by more than five times since February 2016. Poor households are most severely impacted by the observed inflation rates as their food baskets consists mainly of cereals. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the national inflation rate stood at 425.9 percent in February. Furthermore, insecurity along the supply routes and high transportation costs are contributing factors to the likelihood of supply reduction during the lean season. The WFP report indicates that prices of food commodities will remain at elevated levels or even to increase further as the lean season progresses.
- This week, a one-day workshop on accountability to affected people, (AAP), Protection and Gender mainstreaming was organized for WFP staff members and WFP cooperating partners in Malakal. The workshop is part of efforts by WFP to strengthen the mainstreaming of gender and protection issues across its operations in South Sudan.