World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

WFP Somalia aims to address basic food needs, strengthen coping mechanisms and support the efforts to achieve food security of vulnerable Somalis. 

WFP’s programmes range from relief, that is provided during emergencies, to activities designed to build up the resilience of households against future shocks, such as droughts and floods. We are using a more targeted approach to relief assistance for people and communities in crisis, including social safety nets and livelihood support projects, some of which are provided on a seasonal basis when needs are greatest, such as between harvests. 
WFP is also concentrating on nutritional programming. The nutrition strategy in Somalia focuses on treatment of both chronic and acute malnutrition during the current emergency, as well as implementing activities that concentrate on preventing people from becoming malnourished. In highly food insecure areas, WFP is now providing family rations to mothers and malnourished children who are part of our supplementary feeding programmes.  Combined, WFP’s nutrition-related programmes -- supplementary feeding and the family rations – currently represent 75 per cent of our work in Somalia. 
WFP has introduced the use of vouchers as an alternative to food distributions. Currently vouchers are being provided as the family ration in Burao, Somaliland. By providing these instead of food, around 15,000 beneficiaries so far have been given greater choice of what and where to purchase commodities, while traders are benefiting from the boost to the local economy. Eventually, this approach may be expanded to relief, recovery and resilience activities in parts of the country where market conditions allow.   

Mother and Child Health and Nutrition (MCHN) Programme

MCHN aims to prevent both acute and chronic malnutrition (wasting and stunting) in children below the age of 2 years. This approach focuses on the first 1,000 days of life (from conception to age 2) because this is the window of opportunity for preventing irreversible damages to the child’s growth and mental development due to poor nutrition. Pregnant and nursing women are therefore also targeted to ensure a good start in life for their offspring.  The beneficiaries, irrespective of their nutritional status, receive daily supplements of fortified blended food to complement a generally poor diet. In Somalia, the programme is implemented through functional Maternal & Child Health clinics to ensure that beneficiaries receive both nutrition support, but also all the health interventions necessary for a healthy growth: immunisation, de-worming, treatment of diarrhoea and other common illnesses, ante-natal and post-natal medical check-ups, etc. Pregnant or nursing women can stay in the programme until delivery and/or when the child reaches 6 months of age, while children can remain in the programme until they reach 24 months of age. 

Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programme (TSFP) 

This programme aims to treating mild to moderate acute malnutrition (wasting) in children below 5 years of age, as well as pregnant and nursing women, and to prevent them from sliding further into severe wasting. Malnourished children or women are diagnosed based on body measurements (weight, height, Mid-Upper Arm Circumference) using internationally recognised thresholds. Once in the programme, these children and mothers receive a daily supplement of energy and nutrient dense specialised food (e.g. improved fortified blended foods or Ready-To-Use Supplementary food) to complement their diet and ensure they regain weight, but also replenish their micronutrient stores. To ensure the food supplement goes to the malnourished child/mother, WFP provides a monthly family ration composed of cereal, pulses, and vegetable oil for the other family members. The duration of treatment usually ranges between 2 and 3 months. 

Blanket Supplementary Feeding Programme (BSFP) 

WFP has adopted an approach of seasonal nutritional assistance to IDP communities in the north and central regions that experience lean periods. Blanket Supplementary Feeding is being provided between harvests when the traditional diets of milk and meat are in short supply. BSFP is also being used to target IDP communities that have extremely high Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates. Through this programme, all children under the age of 3 receive nutrient dense ready-to-use supplementary food to ensure their continued health and growth. At times of acute need, children under the age of five and pregnant and nursing mothers may also receive nutrition products under BSFP.   

School Meals

To relieve hunger and encourage continued enrolment in primary school, WFP provides school meals or snacks to children. In Somaliland, Puntland and the Central regions, we encourage the attendance of girls in particular, by providing a take-home family ration of vegetable oil. School meals are a vital social safety net for vulnerable households, especially in times of crisis. 

Food for Work/ Food for Assets/ Food for Training

Through Food for Assets (FFA) WFP provides food rations to support self-help initiatives that restore infrastructure and the natural environment, as well as create new assets.  The improvements enable communities to recover from past shocks, such as droughts, and will also increase their ability to cope successfully during future disasters, without having to resort to harmful strategies such as selling all their assets and livestock. Activities can include creating or repairing water catchments, dams, shallow wells, feeder roads to markets, irrigation canals and using soil and water conservation measures to fight soil erosion and restore degraded land. WFP’s interventions are tailored to the local livelihood systems and specific activities are selected by each community according to their own needs. 

FFA is also sometimes implemented in times of emergency under ‘relief’, known then as Food for Work.  This may include, for example, repairs to community feeder roads, de-silting of water catchments, collection of rubbish and clearing of invasive species. 

Food for Training (FFT) is a component of Food for Assets that targets primarily urban populations, especially women. WFP provides food rations as incentives for community members to participate in training that teaches practical vocational skills, such as literacy or tailoring. 

The rations provided for Food for Work, Assets and Training are household rations, intended for the workers or trainees to share with their families. 

Institutional Feeding

 Institutional feeding provides monthly food rations to TB and HIV/AIDS patients and their families through treatment centres. This ensures a more balanced nutritional intake and improved health during the period of treatment, thereby increasing the efficiency of the response to the medication. WFP also provides food to in-patients in some hospitals. 

Rapid Emergency responses 

In times of emergency, there may be the need to provide food on a blanket basis, such as High Energy Biscuits (HEBs) to communities in transit, or general food distributions to parts of the population as an initial response to crises ahead of other targeted initiatives being implemented. 

Special Operations 
To support the provision of emergency food assistance, WFP is implementing two Special Operations. The first Special Operation is the United Nations Humanitarian Air Support  (UNHAS) which facilitates the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance and the movement of aid workers to and within Somalia by providing critical and safe air services in Somalia. UNHAS has medical and security evacuation permanently available for the re-location of staff and can airlift essential relief cargoes, such as medical supplies, to locations inaccessible by road. In 2011 UNHAS operated 8 aircraft and transported over 35,000 passengers and 207 metric tons of cargo. 
The second Special Operation enhances WFP logistics operations in Somalia and facilitates the delivery of humanitarian assistance through emergency repairs and rehabilitation works at Mogadishu and Bossaso sea ports, as well as road and bridge rehabilitation at targeted key corridors. With the aim of increasing the draft in the port, thus allowing larger ships to berth/discharge and increase cost effectiveness of humanitarian shipment, WFP has successfully completed dredging of Bossaso and Mogadishu ports. It has also completed the installation of communications/electronic equipment in the marine tower at Mogadishu to improve safety and security at the port. WFP conducts periodic training for port staff to ensure there is effective and efficient service delivery at the ports.