M17m needed to feed more people

MASERU – The World Food Programme (WFP) says it requires an additional funding of USD1 million (about M17 million) to assist 94 000 Basotho with food.

In its statement released last night, the WFP said it had planned to assist a total of 94 000 during the lean season (October 2022 to March 2023) but the available funding can only support 61 000 people.

It says the current WFP Lesotho five-year Country Strategic Plan (2019-2024) aims at responding to crisis, strengthening social protection systems, improving nutrition, and building resilience in Lesotho with the national systems capacity strengthened and mainstreamed across all activities.

As part of the UN-wide response to Lesotho July 2022 IPC results, WFP sourced funding and launched the lean season crisis response intervention in November 2022 to address immediate food assistance needs as well as medium-term recovery of the most vulnerable people during the hunger season (October 2022- March 2023).

The WFP prioritised Mokhotlong, Thaba-Tseka and Berea districts in which more than 20 percent of the population are estimated to be in crisis.

The WFP provides to a total of 4 200 households with food assistance valued at M1 100.

To boost local small business, WFP is collaborating with 86 local retailers to deliver the food assistance.

The retailers are contracted by WFP for this year’s lean season support and paid directly by WFP for the services they provide.

WFP partners with district nutrition teams to undertake nutrition education before and during distributions to improve knowledge of nutrition, health, hygiene and other care practices that contribute to improved food consumption and nutritional status.

WFP further partners with Ministry of Police (Child and Gender Protection Unit) to lead GBV and protection awareness sessions, covering topics such as referral platforms for reporting GBV and protection related issues, potential protection risks beneficiaries are to be aware of and sharing national policies and laws that protect beneficiary rights.

In its strategy to enhance and strengthen the vulnerable population’s resilience to shocks, WFP is reinforcing the humanitarian-development nexus approach in the areas that have been recurrently assisted like Mokhotlong and Thaba-Tseka districts.

The statement says preparations are underway to expand the public works activities to Mokhotlong district where WFP will target 1 422 people that received food assistance under crisis response to strengthen their coping capacities.

It says the WFP will use the Community Based Participatory Planning approach to identify priority activities that will significantly improve the food security of the most vulnerable households.

The WFP has been in Lesotho for over 50 years since 1962 supporting the Government’s work towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger)

Staff Reporter