As the food assistance arm of the United Nations, WFP uses its food resources to meet emergency needs as well as to support economic and social development. WFP's mission is to save lives in emergency situations, improve the nutrition and quality of life of the most vulnerable - particularly children, pregnant women and nursing mothers - and help build assets to promote self-reliance in poor communities.
As it transitions from drought relief into recovery activities, WFP is expanding its food-for-assets (FFA) and cash–for-assets (CFA) projects which are designed to promote food security. These activities focus on rainwater harvesting for human and livestock use, soil and water conservation, rehabilitation of degraded agricultural land and the production of drought-tolerant crops. The assets and the development of appropriate skills enable communities to improve their resilience in the face of climate change and encourage them to invest in a sustainable future. In 2012, some 950,000 people will benefit from these projects, about half of them through food distributions and half through cash. Read more… http://www.wfp.org/food-assets http://www.wfp.org/cash-and-vouchers
Purchase for Progress (P4P) is a pilot programme through which WFP is using its purchasing power to promote agricultural market development and improve market access to small holder farmers. WFP is improving the capacity of smallholder farmers to engage in agricultural markets and find secure outlets for their produce. Capacity building involves post-harvest handling, market information systems and access to storage facilities. In implementing P4P, WFP works closely with the Ministry of Agriculture as well as with partners at district level to increase production and quality, and to encourage farmers to grow drought-tolerant crops. Read more… http://www.wfp.org/purchase-progress
WFP Kenya has been assisting refugees in Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps since 1991 when the first camp was set up. Currently, nearly 550,000 refugees in Dadaab and Kakuma are receiving regular food assistance from WFP. In the early months of this year, Kakuma refugee camp started receiving an increase in the number of refugees, most of them from South Sudan.
While nutrition levels have improved considerably in Kenya’s northern districts, malnutrition rates in some areas are still higher than the World Health Organisation’s 15 per cent emergency threshold. Some 20 per cent to 50 per cent of children under five years of age in these districts are at risk of malnutrition.
To prevent worsening malnutrition, WFP is providing nutrition support through targeted supplementary feeding programmes for 100,000 moderately malnourished children under the age of five years and pregnant and nursing mothers in other districts in pastoral areas of northern Kenya. Moderately malnourished children are receiving Plumpy’Sup, a nutrient-fortified, ready-to-eat food supplement while pregnant and nursing mothers receive Super Cereal, a highly nutritious blended food that is fortified with extra protein and essential micro-nutrients.
To curb malnutrition in Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps, WFP is providing Super Cereal plus to some 85,000 children in a blanket supplementary feeding programme. Children who are moderately malnourished are receiving Plumpy’Sup through a targeted supplementary feeding programme at health posts in the refugee camps.
In recognition of the vital role played by nutrition in the management of HIV/AIDS, WFP provides food and nutritional support for affected households which are vulnerable. Currently, 78,000 people are supported under the project in Nairobi as well as in Coast, Western, Nyanza and the Rift Valley provinces.
WFP is providing school meals to about 630,000 million school children in Kenya. These are the most vulnerable children living in arid and semi-arid lands, semi-arid coastal districts and the slums of Nairobi. WFP provides a mid-morning meal for all primary and pre-primary school children at the refugee camps and a take-home ration for girls to encourage their enrolment and attendance. In the semi-arid regions of the country, the Ministry of Education is in chage of feeding another 650,000 school children through the national Home Grown School Feeding programme. These schools previously fell under the WFP programme but have been taken over by the Government under the terms of a gradual hand-over policy. In this regard, WFP is helping build Government capacity in a number of areas such as procurement, and monitoring and evaluation, to ensure a smooth transition.