Operations

Ecuador’s northern border zone hosts a large number of Colombians displaced from their country of origin due to the on-going conflict in Colombia. 

Local Ecuadorians and Colombian refugees in the area suffer from prevailing violence and crime, lack of social services, education, and weak governance.

This project is expected to improve the living conditions of up to 5,000 vulnerable people in the Northern Border region of  Ecuador, through food assistance over a period of two years. The total costs of WFP’s contribution to this joint project amount to about half a million US dollars.

The specific objectives of the WFP-assisted emergency operation are:

• reduce malnutrition amongst vulnerable children under 5 years of age, pregnant women and lactating mothers in the affected communities (Strategic Objective 3);
• save lives of the displaced population with a focus on children and adolescents, through the provision of emergency food rations in case of unexpected population movements across the border into Ecuador (Strategic Objective 1);
• contribute to improving primary education in targeted schools of the Northern Border region through the supply of kitchen and service equipment and an integrated deworming programme.

This EMOP is part of an interagency project - UNICEF, UNHCR and WFP - to address the serious human security threats on the northern border as well as to respond to the UN Secretary General’s call for an effective interagency effort to protect the human rights of the most vulnerable population in the area.

The project will be funded through the UN Trust Fund for Human Security with a contribution from the Government of Japan. Considering that the situation on the northern border has been deteriorating in the past two years without any immediate solution in sight, the emergency operation is designed for two years, from 1 September 2006 until 31 August 2008.

Countries

Ecuador

  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....