Overview
Chechnya has been beleaguered by internal conflict since 1999, when the second Chechen war broke out. One-fourth of Chechnya’s population (some 300,000 people) became displaced within the republic, and an additional 100,000 people found sanctuary in the neighbouring republic of Ingushetia.
The humanitarian community estimates that to date some 15,000 Chechens remain displaced in Ingushetia in the absence of shelter and employment opportunities back home.
The years of war have damaged much of Chechnya’s social and economic infrastructure. Grozny, the capital, has been left in ruins and the local oil production has plummeted. It is estimated that 80 percent of the local economic potential was destroyed during the conflict. But even before the conflict, Chechnya and Ingushetia were considered one of the poorest republics in the Russian Federation and highly dependent on federal Government transfers.
Since the cessation of the conflict, the federal Government has increased the financial support for Chechnya’s recovery. This financial injection has started to generate temporary employment, particularly in the urban centers, while livelihoods in rural areas, compounded by insecurity, have stagnated.
The humanitarian situation in Chechnya and Ingushetia remains serious. The 2006 WFP-led Inter-agency VAM Assessment revealed endemic income poverty among the conflict-affected population. Nearly 80 percent of the people surveyed failed to reach the Russian Federation poverty cut-off level of US$2.25 per person per day and the average daily income reported was as low as US$1.31 per capita.
A comparison with an earlier ICRC survey indicated that a significant number of households have, in fact, become worse off over the past two to three years, particularly in the mountainous areas of Chechnya and among the IDP population in Ingushetia. The VAM Assessment also revealed an alarming incidence of global acute malnutrition among 10 percent of the surveyed children.
Since 2000, WFP has distributed 191,400 tons of food commodities under various programme activities in the North Caucasus, valued at US$ 94.4 million. In 2006, the agency provided over 13,633 tons of food commodities to 294,469 vulnerable population groups in Chechnya and Ingushetia.
Within the overall framework of the 2007 Inter Agency Transitional Plan for the North Caucasus, WFP plans continued food assistance to 204,000 conflict-affected persons, mainly in Chechnya and to a lesser degree in Ingushetia.
Within the framework of WFP’s Emergency Operation, food aid is channelled through various mechanisms, such as general food distributions, Food-for-Education, Food-for-Work/Training and supplementary feeding for the most vulnerable groups, such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS patients.
Currently, WFP, through its cooperating partners, is undertaking a General Food Distribution to the most vulnerable displaced Chechens in Ingushetia (10,478 people), and 66,562 vulnerable persons in the central and western part of Chechnya.
As a means to stimulate counselling and treatment, food incentives are provided to all tuberculosis patients undergoing the DOTS treatment (Directly Observed Treatment Short Course), as well as the PLWHA (People Living With HIV/AIDS) treatment for those who are registered in local HIV/AIDs centres.
Finally, WFP supports a few Social Canteens in Grozny with supplementary food aid to provide daily hot meals for the most vulnerable urban population.
WFP programmes are implemented jointly with 8 international and local cooperating partners: Caritas Internationalis, Centre for Humanitarian Assistance (CHA), Danish Refugee Council (DRC), International Medical Corps, Islamic Relief, Medicines san Frontiers – Holland, Vesta. And the World Health Organization (WHO).
Major governments donors to WFP’s operation in the North Caucasus include Canada, ECHO, Finland, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Multilateral, UK and the United States.
