Zimbabwe, previously a producer of surplus food, has since 2001 faced recurring food shortages due to a combination of factors including erratic weather, an HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of 18.1 percent and a series of economic crises precipitated in part by policy constraints. This combination of factors has deepened vulnerability to hunger and poverty and swollen the ranks of the food-insecure.
The resulting crisis, which has both chronic and transitory dimensions, requires a flexible yet predictable response that meets urgent needs while simultaneously helping to preserve the resilience of the population.
Since 2002, WFP has been purchasing, importing and providing food support for up to 50 percent of Zimbabweans, mainly in rural – but also in urban – areas, and has expanded or contracted operations based on needs.
This operation seeks to increase the ability of vulnerable Zimbabweans to meet their food needs by providing food support to complementary health, agriculture and education initiatives. WFP will provide targeted support to select groups vulnerable to hunger, including orphans and other vulnerable children, the chronically ill, the displaced and the asset-poor living in the most food-insecure areas of the country.
This operation is consistent with the United Nations Development Assistance Framework for Zimbabwe, which builds on the Government’s six priority areas, and with the 2007 Consolidated Appeal, which seeks to address the acute needs of vulnerable groups and the more protracted, chronic vulnerabilities of the population.
By increasing the ability of vulnerable people to meet their food needs, while also promoting health, education and livelihoods, the PRRO directly
addresses WFP Strategic Objectives 2 (“Protect livelihoods in crisis situations and enhance resilience to shocks”) and 3 (“Support the improved nutrition and health status of children, mothers and other vulnerable people”), and contributes to Millennium Development Goals 1 (“Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty”) and 6 (“Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases”).
Zimbabwe can return to being a producer of surplus food once it restores agricultural production, rationalizes agricultural markets and reverses economic decline. Until then, targeted food support will likely be required to sustain particularly vulnerable group s in food insecure areas. Regular assessments will continue to ensure that food assistance is calibrated to need.
