Taking a "break" with WFP
Sunday, 26. February 2006, 18:43:49
Summary
Niger is(?)/was facing a major food shortage/famine/malnutrition crisis of great magnitude in the year of 2004 and 2005. The major leading organization responsible to food aid was the UN World Food Programme. However at the end of November 2005, Niger government spokesperson Ben Omar Mohamed stated that the UN World Food Programme was making false claims of food shortage within it borders. Ben Omar Mohamed also stated other humanitarian organizations were also making false allegation of the present condition of Niger at the time.
To demonstrate what Ben Omar Mohamed may be referring to, lets show what type of request made by UN World Food Programme on behalf of providing relief to Niger at the time of the food crisis.
WFP still requires US$20.3 million to fund its current emergency operation until March next year, with US$8.3 million needed immediately. A break in food supplies looms as early as December if donations are not forthcoming.The recent assessment also showed that agricultural production was not as healthy as it might have been because many men were forced to leave villages in search of work this year.
The world community will be at fault for thousands of food shortage deaths "if donations are not forthcoming". Plus they mention that the Niger people cannot fulfill or handle this food crisis on their own even though Niger people are out in the fields growing and raising food from a recent rainy weather related turn of events.
Who provided WFP with the assessment of the food and agricultural situation ?
There seems to be many to chose from.
The Government of Niger has developed a mechanism to prevent and mitigate food crises, to which regular contributions are mainly made by France, the European Union (EU), and Italy. The Food Crisis Prevention and Mitigation Mechanism (DNPGCA) is the national coordinating body for all partners active in food security. The World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UNDP and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) participate in the DNPGCA. These partners also provide contributions in support of the mechanism. This year, food stocks and funds managed by the DNPGCA, have been fully mobilised to meet approximately half the needs of the crisis and will soon be depleted.
and
A preliminary assessment of food supply and food security was carried out by a technical mission jointly undertaken with the Government of Niger1 , FAO/GIEWS, WFP (Headquarters, regional and country offices) and partners2, from 21 October to 4 November 2005 followed by a high level inter-ministerial mission. The technical assessment included eight days of fieldwork which covered all of the country except the region of Diffa, data synthesis, report preparation in Niamey, and briefings for the government, UN agencies, and donor agency representatives3.The inter-ministerial mission visited the regions of Zinder, Maradi, Tahoua and Dosso, and covered also Diffa.
- Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Animal Resources, Prime Minister’s office and Early Warning Unit.
- Partners who participated are FEWS Net, CILSS/AGRHYMET and an observer from the US State Department’s bureau for humanitarian affairs.
- The briefing meeting was attended by representatives of Belgium, Denmark, the EC, France, the Netherlands and the United States.
| ACRONYM | BREAKDOWN |
|---|---|
| UNDP | United Nations Development Programme |
| EC | European Commission (Wikipedia) |
| FEWS Net | Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Wikipedia) |
| GIEWS | Global Information and Early Warning System (on Food and Agriculture) |
| CILSS | The permanent Interstate Committee for drought control in the Sahel [French: Comité permanent inter-État de lutte contre la sécheresse au Sahel](Wikipedia) |
| AGRHYMET | Agronmeteorology and Operational Hydrology and Their Applications [French: Centre Regional de Formation et d'Application en Agrométéorologie et Hydrologie Opérationnelle] |
Ben Mohamed seem to detail this 'system' from this interview, but Associated Press reporter Dalatou Mamane relegated this system to "other humanitarian agencies".
How can Ben Mohamed forget to mention his very own (Niger government ministries) were involved with the assessment but lets not ruin this build-up yet.
Now that it's March...
What is the World Food Programme doing currently and what do they want?
They are still around Niger in much smaller vocal capacity but in Kenya
A malnourished boy sits with his mother at a Medecins sans Frontieres' hospital in El Wak village in drought stricken north eastern Kenya, Saturday March 4 2006.
EL WAK, Kenya - The U.N. food agency will soon run out of food necessary to feed some 3.5 million Kenyans facing shortages caused by prolonged drought because it has received just over a tenth of required funding, a spokesman said Saturday.
The World Food Program has enough cereals to last until April but will run out of other staples by month's end, program spokesman Peter Smerdon said.
The agency has a shortfall in funding of $197 million in its food aid program for Kenya, Smerdon said.
"If we don't get any more food aid it will be a catastrophe," Smerdon said. "We are already on the edge because food is running out and we are supposed to be feeding people until February next year."
How can they go from Niger to Kenya when things are unfinished in Niger?
Their attention went from Niger and now head the same UN World Food Programme in Kenya and will be calling it quits in this April 2005 "[ i ]f we don't get any more food aid it will be a catastrophe". It appears governments whose countries face a weather/agricultural related crisis allow WFP and others to leave and stay as long as there is enough of something in this for themselves.
The expressed point here is how can WFP "break" the food supplies in one country for lack, next hop into another country, and have initial food supplies to begin another emergency operation (EMOP)?
Are they using the same hapless excuse in Sudan and as far as Afganistan too?
Yeap and it goes like this...
Kabul, 28 February 2006 - WFP has called on donors urgently to provide funds to its Afghanistan operation, which is facing critical shortages in supplying food to 3.5 million vulnerable Afghans.
A break in food supplies looms in March if donations are not forthcoming. WFP immediately requires US$11 million to fund its current operations until June 2006.
"Basically we don’t have enough food for vulnerable communities as they come out of winter and head into the lean season prior to the summer harvest," said WFP Afghanistan Country Director and Representative, Charles Vincent.
and
NAIROBI, 13 Mar 2006 (IRIN) - A "critically slow" response to appeals for emergency operations in Sudan has forced the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to reduce rations of pulses, sugar and salt for some 3.5 million beneficiaries in that country.
While supplies of some commodities such as cereals, which form the major part of general food-distribution rations, have not yet been affected, complete breaks in the supply of other rations are now imminent, WFP said in statement released on Friday.
"Ration cuts are a last resort, but we simply have no alternative," said Bradley Guerrant, WFP Sudan deputy country director. "We are cutting amounts of these three items in general food distributions so that we can keep some supplies going for longer. And we need to set aside stocks for the highest priority groups.
"In particular, we are earmarking remaining sugar for feeding centres across Sudan to make sure that malnourished children and pregnant and lactating mothers get this vital part of their diet," he added.
Towards the end of February, WFP said it had received only 4 percent of the US $746 million it needed to feed more than six million people across Sudan in 2006. Even now, WFP has received only 15 percent of its target, leaving the agency critically short of funds.
Another $234 million is needed to allow WFP to ensure supplies of food aid continue in the critical months ahead.
Maybe with all these crises happening at once this is just the proper course of action for the first time
Consider when they use the same 'break' in food supply in the Rwanda - Congo refugee crisis of 2005.
In addition to returning Rwandans, Congolese arriving daily fleeing violence and persecution in the DRC are further stressing the system. Further, if the upcoming demobilization, disarmament, and repatriation of former Rwandan combatants and their dependents is successful, there may be additional demands that WFP will be unable to meet, leading to increased vulnerability for the participants and ultimately jeopardizing the delicate peace process.
The difficulty of meeting the needs of returning Rwandans and Congolese refugees is taking place in the context of an overall shortfall of donations for WFP's food distribution programs for refugees world wide. A WFP press statement issued on May 17 called for urgent donations of U$315 million to meet the needs of 2.2 million camp-based refugees, with 75 percent of this total required for Africa programs.
Officials from the Rwandan office of WFP told Refugees International, "There have been repeated breaks in the pipeline since 2003. It will be difficult for us to continue at this rate, especially as repatriated Rwandans return at rates higher than expected and refugees from the DRC continue to arrive. We are currently assisting 53,400 people while we had planned for 34,000." According to records obtained from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Goma, DRC, the number of repatriated Rwandan refugees may also continue to rise, further straining the situation in Rwanda. "We have seen the numbers double from month to month," stated an official in Goma. "Word just seems to be reaching the Rwandans who have been living in the forest for the past ten years."
"I heard about peace for us in Rwanda on Radio Okapi [the radio station of the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC]," said Anne, a Rwandan woman that RI interviewed in the refugee transit center in Goma. "I want to go back and see for myself if it is true." Dee, another woman returning to Rwanda with her one-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter, also was curious to see if she would be welcomed home. "One of my cousins called out to all of us living in the forest in Congo to return home. He said that we would be welcomed there." Both women left behind family members, and in Anne's case, older children, as they returned to a country that they fled ten years ago.
Currently, the WFP provides a three-month food ration for returning refugees. "It's not nearly enough for these people," confided an employee at the transit center near the border with DRC where refugees spend 24 hours before being transported by truck to their place of origin. "There are very few projects available in the community to assist them when they return," said a staff member of a non-governmental organization. "We are expecting 1,000 Rwandan refugees to be repatriated in May," stated WFP, "and in June, we will have to cut the rations that we give them to one month's worth." The refugees that RI interviewed were already vulnerable to malnutrition and illness. "They are in the same state as the people that live near them in the Congo," said a nurse who works at the Congolese transit site for UNHCR. "All of these people are vulnerable here in DRC. They are hoping that they will have a better life in Rwanda."
In addition to the needs of the repatriated Rwandan refugees, UNHCR and WFP are struggling to accommodate the Congolese refugees that have been arriving at a steady rate of approximately 50-100 per day in each of the two transit sites in Gisenyi and Butare in Rwanda. "The slow trickle we initially see has increased," said UNHCR officials in the Nkamira transit site near the border with DRC. "Since September, there has been a steady influx." Another official stated, "WFP is facing difficulties in Rwanda; they have had to cut rations here. We are worried about our ability to help these refugees. We can't handle many more with these conditions. Food is a major problem. These refugees won't be able to supplement their diets by farming the nearby land as in other countries. They are at the mercy of international food aid."
What does the WFP in your opinion really do mostly?
Media relations, moving boxes, recommendation, and counting dollars. Very little in meeting food sufficiency as an agency by themselves. Lack of confidence for and reducing the local farmers to having no impact in helping to meet the needs of emergency situation in their locale. The local farmer's wisdom and understanding is greatly wasted. As you can read the rains have come and the African farmer is hard at work getting the fields to grow for food needs. They did this without WFP telling them how to respond to this relieving situation.
However, they do provide nice helping of rice (cereal) and corn-soy blend while supplies last but that is tied in with how WFP budget forecast is being met.
If the WFP is moving boxes of food aid and collecting donations who helps feed the recepient?
From WFP themselves it looks like MSF aka Doctors Without Borders is doing the legwork.
WFP is currently collaborating with MSF/Switzerland, MSF/Spain and MSF/Belgium to provide protection rations to children in their centres. Through the EMOP, it has also provided both MSF/France and MSF/Switzerland with take-home family rations and with wet rations for mothers staying in their centres. A first round of distributions has been completed and a second round is about to start for 590 tons of commodities for a targeted blanket distribution to approximately 33,000 moderately malnourished or at-risk children southern Zinder.
| ACRONYM | BREAKDOWN |
|---|---|
| EMOP | Emergency operation |
| MSF | Doctors Without Borders [French: Médecins Sans Frontières](Wikipedia) |
In short, what does the U. N. World Food Programme require mostly.
Your govenment's attention with pocketbooks wide open.
Perhaps Ben Omar Mohamed is making a proper observation when he says WFP is "making appeals for money to 'enrich themselves on the back of the Nigerien people.'"
WIDGETIZE