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Malawi: Government of Malawi, United Nations World Food Programme and Partners Respond to Lean Season Hunger

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Source: World Food Programme, Government of Malawi
Country: Malawi

The Government of Malawi together with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and other partners are today launching a lean season relief operation to meet the food and nutrition needs of the most vulnerable people affected by low household crop production and high food prices.

Nearly 700,000 people will need food assistance from December 2014 until the next crop harvest, according to the November data of the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC), which is a committee made up of the Government of Malawi, UN agencies, academic institutions, non-governmental organizations and development partners.

The MVAC showed that while there was an overall production improvement this year, leading to a modest maize surplus at national level, pockets of the country are still unable to meet their basic food needs due to prolonged dry spells and flooding that diminished household production. Access to food has been further limited by maize prices that remain about 30 percent higher than the five-year average.

Last lean season, 1.85 million people needed food assistance in 24 out of 28 districts. This lean season, 20 districts will be affected by food insecurity.

“WFP is working with the Government and partners to meet the immediate food and nutrition needs of the most vulnerable, as well as to address the underlying drivers of food and nutrition insecurity,” said WFP Acting Country Director Baton Osmani. “We’re doing this by linking relief to longer-term resilience and safety net programmes, investing in innovations and strengthening partnerships,” he said.

Under the coordination of the government, WFP and its partners aim to reach 62 percent of the vulnerable population, or up to 429,000 people, in 16 of the affected districts with monthly food distributions (maize, pulses and vegetable oil) and monthly cash transfers from December to March. A consortium of international NGOs is assisting the rest of those in need through cash transfers. Assistance will start in the six most affected districts in December and then progressively scale-up to all 20 districts by February 2015.

Families receiving food assistance that have pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers or children under two years of age will also receive fortified blended food (Super Cereal or Super Cereal Plus, respectively) to prevent malnutrition. WFP is also piloting vouchers, which will allow eligible women and children in two selected areas of Blantyre and Lilongwe districts to purchase locally-sold Super Cereal.

To tackle underlying causes of food and nutrition insecurity, WFP and partners will deliver key behaviour change messages on agriculture, nutrition, gender, HIV/AIDS and protection issues, as well as provide training on raising small livestock or making kitchen gardens. In some areas, WFP will also offer asset creation opportunities, such as providing food assistance in exchange for constructing community irrigation schemes, to increase communities’ capacity to deal with increasingly risky environments.

“The Government of Malawi acknowledges the efforts that WFP is making, in collaboration with other partners, to alleviate the suffering of the most vulnerable people, while at the same time building resilience in communities to improve livelihoods,” said the Secretary and Commissioner for Disaster Management Affairs Paul Chiunguzeni.

WFP is grateful for donors’ generous support. Contributions from the United States Agency for International Development, Britain’s UKaid, and the Government of Germany are funding the response.

Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media

For more information please contact:
Gift Mafuleka, mafulekagift@yahoo.com, Deputy Director, Department of Disaster Management Affairs, Government of Malawi, Mob. +265 (0) 999 205 939
Sarah Rawson, sarah.rawson@wfp.org , WFP/Lilongwe, Mob. +265 (0)999 972 402


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