The 2007 growing season in northern Ghana witnessed prolonged dry spells followed by intense rainfall, with more than 300 millimetres of rainfall in August alone. Rising waters were exacerbated by the opening of the spillway of the Bagri Dam in Burkina Faso, resulting in flash flooding in valleys and low-lying areas. The floods destroyed field crops and washed away livestock, homes, food stocks and infrastructure.
Initial assessments identified twenty out of thirty-four districts as the most severely affected, which are located along the tributaries of the Volta River. National disaster management authorities reported 56 deaths, over 54,000 homes destroyed and 325,000 people affected. A Ministry of Food and Agriculture / Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) crop supply mission (October 2007) estimates crop losses at 151,470 mt, representing approximately 20 percent of the annual food requirements of the affected regions. Reduced market access and lost tools, fishing nets and seed stocks have affected livelihoods further.
The Government provided US$5.4 million for emergency response, declared a State of Emergency on 11 September 2007 and approved an inter-agency assessment mission, under the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) umbrella. The mission identified the most urgent priorities as food, water, health and shelter/non-food items (such as mosquito nets) as populations were at high risk to increased prevalence of malnutrition and water-borne diseases. The United Nations Country Team agreed to target 75,000 of the most-affected people with immediate assistance, pending sector-specific assessments. A United Nations Flash Appeal was launched in October for US$10 million, of which 30 percent was for food.
WFP’s response included the launch of an Immediate Response Account Emergency Operation on 21 September for 845 mt of cereals, pulses, vegetable oil, and 30 mt high-energy biscuits (HEB). HEB were dispatched immediately from stocks pre-positioned at the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot in Accra to meet the immediate food needs of 30,000 displaced people. A 3-month Special Operation 10707 for Ghana and Togo (US$1,393,875) was approved on 2 October to enable food deliveries in districts that had become inaccessible by road.
This emergency operation (EMOP), under WFP strategic objective 1 “save lives in crisis situations”, will assist the 75,000 most flood-affected people who have lost their homes, livestock and food stocks. Supplementary feeding, implemented in close partnership with the Ghana Health Service and UNICEF, will target 10,000 pregnant and lactating women and malnourished children under 5 with fortified take-home rations. This will address malnutrition while ensuring their monthly attendance at community health and nutrition centres, so as to receive an integrated package of health and nutrition services. This EMOP will contribute to Millennium Development Goal 1 “Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger”, 4 “Reduce child mortality” and 5 “improve maternal health”.
Government capacity in emergency response to future natural disasters will be strengthened through the use of on-the-job training of government structures and actors, and through the implementation of local and regional procurement strategies. This EMOP covers a 5 months period up until the next planting season in May 2008, when the planned emergency food security needs assessment and nutritional survey results will be used to determine if there are additional requirements for WFP to address for May-December 2008.
The groundwork for the handover strategy is being created through linkages with partners under the food security, nutrition and sustainable livelihood sector groups. Exit strategies will be contingent upon linking affected population with recovery of their normal productive activities and livelihoods (agriculture, fisheries, livestock), as well as with ongoing government nutrition and agricultural programmes.
This operation has been extended until 31 august 2009 as per Budget Revision 4.
