Since the 1990s, the Government of Uganda has promoted a development agenda that has led to a reduction in national poverty and improvements in human security. The proportion of the population living below the national poverty line declined from 56 to 31 percent between 1992/93 and 2002/03. Uganda's score on the UN human development index has increased steadily since 1995 and it now ranks 154th out of 177 countries worldwide. The broader economic, political and social developments in the country have contributed to these improvements, but have also presented challenges of their own.
WFP is supporting an estimated 1.4million people under its emergency, relief and recovery and development programmes. The emergency operation addresses the immediate and critical needs of drought-affected people in the northeastern Karamoja region, which suffers both from recurrent spikes of acute malnutrition and underlying chronic hunger. The relief and recovery operation focuses on internally displaced people and refugees in the northern and southwestern parts of the country, while the Country Programme concentrates on food and nutrition security, as well as agricultural and market support to small-scale farmer groups and school feeding in Karamoja.
Emergency and relief programmes: WFP Uganda’s largest relief operation targets Karamoja, where recurrent droughts and ongoing violence have left an estimated 1,130,000 of its inhabitants (94 percent of the region's entire population) unable to provide for their immediate food needs. WFP provides relief in the more rural areas. In the town centres, however, an estimated 1,000 people benefit from food for assets. WFP is also assisting nearly 100,000 extremely vulnerable individuals in the internally displaced persons camps and transit areas in northern Uganda, and 109,000 refugees in West Nile and the southwest. WFP’s relief operation encompasses not only general food distributions but also support to supplementary and therapeutic feeding for moderately and severely malnourished people respectively. This also marks the first time nutritional objectives have been included in general food distributions.
Recovery: WFP assists communities that have been phased out of general food distributions through a combination of food-for-work and food-for-training programmes. These activities aim to enhance resilience to shocks and rebuild lives and livelihoods. They include the construction of fishponds, feeder roads and dams; the establishment of woodlots; the building of houses for teachers; and training in livelihood enhancement skills. Current food-related activities reach over 27,000 beneficiaries in post-conflict, post-disaster and transition situations.
Development: WFP carries out a range of development activities that seek to address the underlying causes of food insecurity through two priority sectors: agriculture and market support, and food and nutrition security. Agriculture and market support to small-scale farmers and traders aims to leverage WFP’s local purchasing and is provided through the construction and rehabilitation of market infrastructure such as warehouses and community market access roads; training in post harvest handling; and the purchase of the farmers’ produce – mainly cereals and pulses.
Under the food and nutrition security priority area, activities with the objective of improving the nutrition and general health status of women and children target approximately 40,000 people. Specifically, pregnant women, breast-feeding mothers, and children between 6-24 months of age are supported through a community-based maternal child health and nutrition (MCHN) programme. Additionally, a daily mid-morning porridge and lunch meal are provided to approximately 70,000 school children in the chronically drought-affected region of Karamoja.
