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Sri Lanka

WFP Sri Lanka Country Brief, December 2023

Attachments

In Numbers

606.86 mt of food distributed

US$11.9 million in cash and vouchers distributed1

US$0.99 million six-month (November-April 2023) net funding requirements

403,053 people assisted in October 2023

Operational Updates

Emergency Response

• In 2023, WFP targeted 2.4 million food-insecure people through cash and voucher assistance, general food assistance, school meals, and nutrition support.

• WFP reached 34,028 people in December with in-kind food assistance and 132 people received cash assistance.

• WFP provides maize and soya beans to the Government’s Thriposha2 facility, targeting pregnant and breastfeeding women and children aged 6-59 months. In December, the Ministry of Health distributed Thriposha packets to 169,371 pregnant and breastfeeding women and 182, 762 children above three years of age.

• WFP continues to support the National School Meals programme by providing fortified rice to over 2,823 schools nationwide, reaching 1 million schoolchildren.

• In December, WFP distributed 7,760 food packs in two rounds, targeting children with moderate acute malnutrition continued in Nuwara Eliya.

Resilience Building, Capacity Strengthening and Social Protection

• WFP supported the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) in conducting workshops on the role of media in strengthening the country's disaster management mechanism and disseminating information thereof on 01 December.

• WFP, in collaboration with the DMC, conducted three awareness workshops on Post Disaster Needs Assessment and Disaster Risk Management Framework in Colombo. The workshop aimed to inform government officials about the advantages of applying a standardized approach and methodology to conduct post-disaster needs assessment and formulate a recovery strategy.

• WFP conducted the final workshop on the Emergency Preparedness Capacity Indicator (EPCI) as part of the Climate and Disaster Ready project. Since October 2023,
WFP conducted a thorough desk review and a series of workshops with Government agencies, private sector organizations and NGOs, INGO, UN and civil society organizations to gather their inputs on opportunities and strategies to enhance the effectiveness of DRR systems and coordination mechanisms. The final workshop was held to validate the findings that arose from the desk review and previous workshops.

• As part of WFP’s voucher micro-retailer programme, in December, 2,250 households received a voucher worth LKR 17,500 (approx. US$55).

Assessments and Monitoring

• WFP conducted a household food security survey aiming to provide information on the food consumption patterns, expenditures, coping strategies, and food security outcomes of households in Sri Lanka. The survey data collection was completed in November, covering all 25 districts and the nationally representative results are in the process of finalization.

Nutrition

• WFP collaborated with the Nutrition Division,
Ministry of Health, Partnerships Secretariat for World Food Programme Cooperation, and a representative from the National Disaster Management Centre to conduct a training on ‘Food and Nutrition Security in Emergencies’. The training was held in Nuwara Eliya from 04 to 08 December, with 45 participants from the Ministry of Health, relevant District and Provincial Government workers, and national practitioners, including health and non-health officers, and CSOs/NGOs.

Gender and Protection

• WFP’s Community Feedback Mechanism (CFM) hotline operates daily in Sinhala, Tamil, and English.
In December, CFM received 150 cases, of which, 98 percent have been closed. Majority of the calls were requesting further information. All concerns by callers were flagged to the respective focal points for immediate action.

• As part of #16DaysOfActivism, two edutainment activities for all staff were initiated to sensitize them on GBV prevalence with a jewelry making workshop and cooking competition for staff.

• The Disability Data Ambassador’s Workshop to sensitize disability champions from all districts was held on 18 and 19 December in Colombo. The workshop, with the participation of 34 attendees, was implemented with support from the Disability Organizations Joint Front to advocate for disability data awareness considering the upcoming Population and Housing Census 2024.

Communication and Advocacy

• WFP published a social media post was highlighting a quote from Dustin Shiau, Senior Regional Program Officer of USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), where he underlined the importance of planning to increase disaster risk management in Sri Lanka. He addressed this at the final "Climate and Disaster Ready" workshop. The post also acknowledged USAID BHA's contribution of US$2.5 million to WFP to support the Government of Sri Lanka in disaster risk management.