This operation has been modified and extended in time until 31 December 2009 as per Budget revision 1.
Abstract from Budget revision 1 (see below).
With the objective of dramatically enhancing the wider humanitarian response capacity, the Cluster Approach has become an important element of the United Nations reform package. WFP has assumed co-leadership of the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) together with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). In its capacity of provider of last resort for securitytelecommunications, WFP information and communications technology (ICT) division has proactively launched the “Emergency Telecommunications Cluster Roll Out Project” with the aim of identifying the gaps in Inter-Agency telecommunications in 32 countries. The overall project objective was to assist the wider humanitarian community in 2 improving field co-ordination, upgrading emergency telecommunications facilities when necessary, as well as enhancing staff security.
The special operation (SO) was launched on 1 January 2008 with a duration of 18 months (ending on 30 June 2009) and a budget amounting to US$9.1 million. The original plan was to conduct assessments in 32 countries included under the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster Roll Out project. Following the completion of these assessments, WFP was anticipating to implement emergency telecommunications upgrades in 16 countries. Typically the project implementation includes the installation of a Very/Ultra High Frequency (VHF/UHF) repeater network, a High Frequency (HF) radio network, establishment of a 24/7 radio-room (communications centre) to monitor the security telecommunications networks. In addition to hardware installations, training for the users and radio-operators is conducted throughout the implementation period.
Out of the 32 countries initially envisaged under this special operation, assessments have been completed in 27 countries. 5 countries were excluded either because of restricted access due to insecurity, or as a result of closure of offices and reprioritization.
Following the completion of the assessment phase, fewer countries than initially anticipated actually required a project implementation (12 countries instead of 16 originally planned). These include Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Colombia, Guinea, East Timor, Haiti, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Myanmar, Niger, Somalia and Zimbabwe.
Out of these 12 countries, the project implementation in Haiti, Guinea and Somalia was funded through other SOs. This brought down the total number of countries requiring a project implementation under SO 10718.0 to 9. Additionally, the Myanmar project implementation was only partially funded through SO 10718.0 as it was launched as a part of the Logistics SO in response to the Nargis Hurricane emergency.
Countries
Afghanistan faces enormous recovery needs after three decades of war, civil unrest and recurring natural disasters. Despite recent progress, millions of Afghans still live in severe poverty with a crumbling infrastructure and a landscape that is suffering from environmental damage....
Fifteen years of civil war since 1993, combined with extreme poverty, a fragile political process and recurrent climatic shocks, have had a strongly negative impact on Burundi’s economic and nutrition indicators.
Only 19 percent of the population is food-secure and as many as 46 percent are chronically malnourished....
The Central African Republic (CAR), a landlocked country of just four million people, has the most grim human development indicators in the region....
Chad is a low-income, food-deficit country, ranked 170th out of 177 countries in the 2008 UNDP Human Development Index. Chad has in the past six years hosted around 255,000 refugees from Sudan ’s Darfur region and close to 77,000 refugees from the Central African Republic and 188,000 Chadians have been displaced b...
The humanitarian crisis facing Colombia after more than 40 years of conflict makes it one of the countries with the highest rates of internally displaced people (IDP) in the world.
It is estimated that, to date, the accumulated number of Colombians who have been forced to abandon their areas to relocate in the marginal areas of many towns and cities may t...
Since 1996, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been cursed by conflict, which has devastated and destabilised the country and claimed the lives of an estimated five million civilians....
Food production in the Republic of Congo is below national consumption requirements....
During the 1990’s, Côte d'Ivoire was one of west Africa’s most stable and prosperous nations. However, since the 2002 attempted coup-turned-rebellion, the country has been divided in two. This has caused massive population displacement -- both internally and to neighbouring countries....
Ecuador, located in South America, has a population of 13 million inhabitants. Although an oil exporter, it is still one of the poorest countries in the region....
The rugged topography and harsh climate of Eritrea, combined with the devastation caused by war with Ethiopia, has led to economic hardship and food insecurity for more than two million people in this small country in the Horn of Africa.
The border demarcation which is part of a comprehensive peace agreement signed in June 2000 has stalled, hampering the ...
In Ethiopia, there are currently more than 10 million people who have been affected by drought....
Despite the abundance of natural resources in Guinea, its population endures high poverty and malnutrition rates. Since 2000, the country has experienced socio-economic adversity....
The internal conflict in Guinea Bissau, which broke out in June 1998 and lasted 11 months, caused infrastructure destruction, the collapse of administrative structures and the disintegration of the social fabric.It is ranked 175 out of 177 countries according to the Human Development Index(HDI) Report in 2007/2008.
Poverty, unemployment and social and eco...
WFP has been present in Haiti since 1969.
At the end of 2008, Haiti ranked 148th of 179 countries on the United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index; 76 percent of Haitians live on less than US$2 per day and 56 percent on less than US$1 per day.
Haiti remains a food deficit country....
Indonesia has made significant strides in reducing poverty and strengthening democracy since the economic crisis and political transformation of 1997-1998....
Iran has been surrounded by civil and military conflicts for over 30 years.
The resource-rich country has hosted massive numbers of refugees from these conflicts and has requested additional help from the international community.
UNHCR and the Governments of Iran and Afghanistan have been actively promoting the repatriation of refugees for th...
Nearly 30 years of economic decline and conflict have had severe humanitarian consequences in Iraq. In particular, education and health services have been severely affected hitting hard women, children, the elderly and the chronically ill.
Iraq is now at a crossroads to political stability and socio-economic recovery....
Battered by war from 1989 to 2003, Liberians are now on a long, difficult road to recovery and stability....
Myanmar, whose 53 million inhabitants comprise 135 ethnic groups, is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in Southeast Asia....
Nepal, with a population of approximately 27 million people, is a food-deficit country struggling to recover from an 11-year civil war....
Niger has a population of approximately 13 million inhabitants and was ranked 174 out of 177 countries by UNDP’s Human Development Index in 2008.
Some 59.5 percent of the population is living below the poverty line. Agriculture is the engine of Niger’s weak economy, with 82 percent of the population relying on farming....
Palestinians have experienced a dramatic decline in their living standards and a regression of the economy due to internal and external movement restrictions, limited control over natural resources, restricted access to local and international markets, limited access of Palestinian labourers to their former work in Israel and low rates of economic producti...
Chechnya has been beleaguered by internal conflict since 1999, when the second Chechen war broke out....
Somalia is one of the most dangerous places in the world, and the Horn of Africa country with probably the highest humanitarian needs – not least for food assistance – compared to the size of its population (listen to interview by BBC's Mike Thompson)....
Sri Lanka is classified as a low-income, food-deficit country....
Sudan is the largest country on the African continent and arguably one of the most complex....
Ongoing violence in Iraq has caused hundreds of thousands of people to seek safety in Syria, placing a heavy burden on the country’s social services....
Tajikistan is a low-income, food-deficit country with a population of 6.6 million....
Timor-Leste is one of the poorest countries in Asia. The country ranks 150 in the 2007 UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) report, the lowest among
all Asian countries.
Food insecurity is widespread due to low crop yields, lack of income, drought, underdeveloped markets, and civil unrest....
Yemen is one of the world’s least developed countries, with increasing levels of poverty, hunger, and malnutrition. Volatile food and fuel prices over the past years have severely affected the country, leaving over one in three Yemenis suffering from chronic hunger. The current global financial crisis is further compounding the situation....
In Zimbabwe, hyper-inflation and acute shortages of basic supplies combined with a series of very poor harvests led to serious food shortages and acute food insecurity in recent years....
