A unique view of all the ways WFP is assisting millions of people worldwide.
WFP is assisting young mothers and children with nutrition programmes in over 930 Mother and Child Health and Nutrition (MCHN) centres across Somalia. In many centres, WFP works together with UNICEF, who treat severe acute malnutrition, while WFP addresses moderate acute malnutrition. With the United Nations warning of a risk of famine, these centres and others like it is just one of the critical ways that the international community can urgently and effectively address the impacts of the severe drought on the health of women and small children.
A worsening food security situation, due to a prolonged drought and ongoing conflict in Somalia, is threatening to unravel the fragile progress achieved since the famine of 2011. More than ever, WFP is counting on its partnership with ECHO to assist in meeting the needs of the most vulnerable Somalis.
Across Somalia, more than a million people are struggling to meet their basic food needs, particularly internally displaced people and the urban poor. With support from the European Union’s humanitarian aid and civil protection department (ECHO), WFP is now providing the most vulnerable people in Mogadishu with cash-based assistance so they can shop for the food they need. WFP is increasingly providing cash-based transfers in places where food is available in the markets, but lack of income prevents vulnerable families from accessing it.
Somalia’s rainy seasons are growing shorter and more erratic. In a country where most people make a living from livestock or farming, either too much or too little rainfall can destroy livelihoods and push families into destitution. The ongoing El Niño has led to floods in south and central Somalia, and intensified the dry conditions in other parts of the country, leading to a severe drought in Somaliland, where many people’s coping mechanisms are stretched to a breaking point. The generous support from DFID, USAID, Germany and Sweden means WFP is able to support drought affected people in Somaliland in ways that are appropriate to each location.
More than 28,000 people – nearly half of them children – have arrived in Somalia fleeing the conflict in Yemen. Most are Somalis returning to their homeland.
Here are ten things to know about El Niño, the atmospheric event that threatens to complicate the food security situation in various countries across three continents. Please help the World Food Programme (WFP) raise awareness by sharing these facts on Twitter.
For decades Somalis have been fleeing the conflict inside Somalia, risking their lives on overcrowded boats crossing the Gulf of Aden to find refuge in Yemen. However, the escalating conflict in the neighboring country is reversing the migration trend as Yemeni families continue to arrive in the Somali ports of Bossaso and Berbera, fleeing the violence that has flared up in their country.
In February, Somalia became the second country in the world where WFP has launched its groundbreaking new system for managing assistance programmes, a platform known as SCOPE. The SCOPE information system allows WFP to monitor and control all its distributions of food, cash and vouchers electronically and in near real time. SCOPE also allows WFP to register beneficiaries, store information on the amount of food or money they are entitled to and – in the case of cash or vouchers – transfer the specific amount onto the cards. There was a buzz of anticipation as the first SCOPE transfer cards were handed out.
The gradual recovery and gains made since the end of the famine in 2012 are at risk of being reversed as poor rains, conflict, trade disruptions and reduced humanitarian access have led to a worsening of the food security situation across Somalia.