In Numbers
18 nutrition education sessions and cooking demonstrations were organized in 5 municipalities (Bobonaro, Covalima, Dili, Ermera and Oecusse), reaching 854 community members.
US$ 1.99 m six months (September 2019 – February 2020) net funding requirements
Operational Updates
• For Breastfeeding Month in Timor-Leste, WFP and other UN Agencies supported the Ministry of Health to highlight the importance of breastfeeding exclusively for the first 6 months of a child’s life and with complementary food until the age of two.
• As part of a larger strategy to build the Government’s capacity, WFP has taken steps to develop a plan to handover the Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programme to the Ministry of Health, including the facilities for producing Super Cereal, a fortified blended food for treating malnutrition in pregnant and lactating mothers.
• WFP is conducting research to identify gaps in nutrition in Timor-Leste and understand the cost of a nutritious diet. These analyses apply the ‘Fill the Nutrient Gap’ tool and will inform the Ministry of Health’s fight against malnutrition. Findings will be presented to relevant ministries in a workshop in October.
• WFP provided a ‘Cost of the Diet’ analysis training to University of Timor-Lorosa’e (UNTL) students and 15 officials from KONSSANTIL, a joint-ministerial committee combating malnutrition and food insecurity in the country. Participants learned how to analyse the data used to determine the cost of a nutritious diet.
• WFP is running a trial in two schools in Dili to find out whether schools and school children would accept the introduction of fortified rice into the national School Feeding Programme. Providing fortified rice in schools has the potential to deficiencies in micronutrients (such as iron, zinc and essential vitamins) among school children.
• WFP conducted a training on Humanitarian Supply Chain Management to World Vision staff which highlighted common humanitarian supply chain challenges and bottlenecks that impact logistic operations.
• WFP and the National Logistic Centre signed a Memorandum of Understanding which highlighted the active partnership between the two parties and potential for future technical support and capacity development.
• 35 mt of internationally-purchased Super Cereal was dispatched to five municipalities (Bobonaro, Covalima, Ermera, Dili, and Oecusse) which were identified as having the greatest need. The Super Cereal will be distributed in Health Centers from September to meet the needs of 5,880 pregnant and lactating women. This is funded through the support of the Government of Timor-Leste.