Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranking 176th out of 177 in the UNDP’s 2007 Human Development Index. The country is confronted with a large-scale nutrition crisis. According to the 2006 MICS, 23 percent of children under-five are affected by moderate acute malnutrition. Chronic malnutrition increased from 31 percent to 39 percent.
Nearly two children out of ten die before the age of five in Burkina Faso. A similar deteriorating trend has been observed with respect to maternal health. The percentage of underweight women (Body Mass Index <18.5) of childbearing age increased from 15 percent to 21 percent.
The increase of food and fuel prices has slowed down some informal sector activities affecting the employment opportunities of the poor households, as well as the business of small shopkeepers.
A rapid “High Food Prices Impact” assessment mission, conducted jointly by the Government, UNCT and SCF-UK in late June 2008, concluded that the poorest households are in an extremely difficult situation and have almost exhausted all their coping mechanisms. They are highly exposed to the risk to fall into a state of complete destitution as they rely on a shrinking and limited income while their only source of food is from market.
The IMF and the World Bank are the strongest advocates of targeted safety net programs to respond to the current crisis. Cash transfer and/or subsidies for the poorest population groups, particularly in the urban context, were brought up as the most suitable, short-term targeted actions.
On July 4th 2008 the Government of Burkina Faso, through the Ministry of Social Affairs sent a formal request to WFP to provide assistance to the populations most affected by the High Food Prices crisis with a clear focus on the urban households.
To respond to the Government request and considering that WFP is already actively intervening in the rural area through its PRRO and CP, it has been decided to geographically concentrate this operation in the country’s two largest cities Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso.
While the Government of Burkina Faso through its Ministry of Social Affairs will provide the necessary and continuous assistance to the most destitute caseload (handicapped, elderly, etc.) through the provision of in-kind food aid, WFP assistance will cater for the needs of the very poor and poor households to protect their livelihoods (SO1), reduce hunger and undernutrition (SO4).
Some 30,000 very poor households (about 180,000 individuals) will receive monthly cash transfers to make up for their purchasing capacity’s loss. Cash transfers will be provided through vouchers to be exchanged in selected shops against a basket which includes maize, cooking oil and soap.
Children under-two are perhaps the population group paying the highest price of this crisis. Their largely inadequate dietary intake (in terms of quality and quantity) makes them highly at risk of undernutrition with irreversible physical and mental development consequences. Therefore, 6-24 months old children, and pregnant women and lactating mothers living in very poor and poor households (about 150,000 individuals) will respectively receive ready-to-use food for young children, such as Plumpy’Doz ™ and fortified foods.
Given the widely recognized need to introduce safety net programs to address chronic poverty in Burkina Faso, the operation includes the implementation of a solid handover of the urban voucher scheme to the Ministry of Social Affairs.
The Country Office is considering the possibility to obtain a full time secondment of a World Bank staff during the implementation of the EMOP to facilitate the handover of the urban voucher scheme and its transition towards a wider safety net program fully integrated into the country’s PRS (SO5).
This objective will be complemented by the implementation of the P4P project currently ready for approval.
