World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Two years after Georgia’s August 2008 war with Russia, the end of an international food assistance program could put thousands of families displaced by the conflict at risk for hunger, two international aid organizations say.(..)A lack of donations forced the WFP, which ran the main free food program for Georgia’s IDPs, to end the handouts in June, roughly a year early, said Mike Huggins, the WFP’s program coordinator in Georgia. The “WFP is increasingly alarmed that the most vulnerable IDPs . . . will face a very bleak winter,” Huggins said in an interview. “Almost all IDPs live below the poverty line and more than 90 percent are dependent on external food aid.”

The European Commission has allocated an additional 2 million euros (2.8 million U.S. dollars) to Georgia to help reestablish the displaced people suffering from the brief war between Georgia and Russia, the commission said Tuesday. (..) The funding will be channeled through the World Food Program.

On February 18, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) launched a joint cash assistance programme for people displaced during the August 2008 crisis in Georgia. Through a WFP led direct cash transfer system, short-term financial assistance will be provided to those who, due to the August conflict left their homes in the Tskhinvali, Java and Akhalgori districts as well as to the Kurta, Tikvi, Eredvi and Azhara communities and those who are currently registered at the Civil Registry Agency of Georgia.