The refugee and internally-displaced people (IDP) crisis in eastern Chad results from the ongoing fighting and instability in the Darfur region of neighbouring Sudan, as well as internal insurgency carried out by Chadian rebel elements. Insecurity is expected to continue in this border region for the foreseeable future, barring a breakthrough in efforts to broker peace inside both Sudan and Chad, as well as a cessation of tensions between the two countries. There is fear of worsening insecurity and a resulting increase in population displacement. Political-military developments in the latter part of 2008 and early 2009 will determine the level of security in the region. Under these conditions, there is a need for continued assistance to a refugee population of 255,000 refugees in twelve camps, 188,000 IDPs located in 30 sites as well as vulnerable members of host communities affected by the refugee/IDP crisis. The prolonged presence of these large refugee and internally displaced populations in a fragile sahelo-saharian environment further increases the strain on local agricultural, pasture, and water resources, thus resulting in communal and inter-ethnic tension. If not mitigated, tensions could fuel escalated inter-ethnic conflict in an already volatile area. This emergency operation (EMOP) therefore aims to address the basic needs of the Sudanese refugees along with the distinct needs of the IDPs and host populations through the provision of general food distribution supplementary feeding and support to therapeutic feeding for refugees and the provision of food-for-work (FFW), food-fortraining (FFT) assistance and school feeding for IDPs and host populations.
The design of this operation takes into account the recommendations of the recently-conducted WFP/UNHCR joint assessment mission (JAM) of September 2008, the WFP vulnerability analysis and mapping (VAM) survey on food self-sufficiency among refugees, IDPs and host populations that was conducted in December 2007, as well as the July/August 2008 nutritional survey conducted in refugee camps. While limited access to land and non-agricultural incomegenerating activities has provided refugees and IDPs with some sources of livelihood, continued provision of food aid to both groups will be required to bridge nutritional gaps during the period of this EMOP. Local populations around the refugee camps and IDP sites will be targeted with FFW activities to mitigate the disruption brought about by the camps. In addition, the most vulnerable children and women from local communities near the camps will continue to benefit from supplementary and therapeutic feeding and from mother-child health and nutrition interventions.
Though significant returns of either refugees or IDPs are unlikely during 2009 due to prolonged volatility and insecurity, the EMOP proposes initial steps to support willing non-governmental organization (NGO) partners to promote and implement transitional initiatives. In this regard, some general food distribution (GFD) rations will be distributed to IDPs within the scope of FFW projects to develop social/environmental infrastructure. In this way, IDPs will fill some of their household food gap with the rations provided while, at the same time, learning organizational and technical lessons which can be applied when they eventually return to their villages of origin. In addition, host communities will benefit from long-term infrastructure developed by the projects.
This EMOP, which is in line with the Chad United Nations Inter-Agency Contingency Plan, is designed to reflect the extreme insecurity of the border areas through the inclusion of modest contingency stocks to meet the needs of an estimated additional 43,800 IDPs, refugees and/or vulnerable hosts. There is a risk of irregular rainfall in the 2009/2010 agricultural season, which could result in the deterioration of food security. Thus WFP must be timely and agile in monitoring developments affecting vulnerabilities as well as ready to adopt a flexible response to targeting assistance to segments of the refugee, IDP and host community population (existing and new beneficiaries) as necessary.
In line with WFP strategic objectives, the EMOP will be implemented to achieve Strategic Objectives 1 (“save lives and protect livelihoods in emergencies”), 3 (“restore and rebuild lives and livelihoods in post-conflict, post-disaster or transition situations”), and 4 (“reduce chronic hunger and malnutrition”) among Sudanese refugees, IDPs and targeted segments of the host population affected by the refugee and IDP crisis. This EMOP contributes to Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1 “eradicate extreme poverty and hunger”, MDG 2 “achieve universal primary education”, MDG 4 “reduce child mortality” and MDG 5 “improve maternal health”.
The transitional initiatives will be designed with NGO partners through a community development approach, to the extent that security and other social conditions permit. In this context, WFP will work with its partners to build into the project plans suitable sustainability and hand-over arrangements with concerned local stakeholders.
1) Number of beneficiaries reflects planned total number of beneficiaries during the entire project duration of 18 months
