World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

WFP projects, funded by the UN Peace Building Fund, reunite multi-ethnic communities as they work together on restoring irrigation networks to improve agriculture and prevent potential conflicts over water distribution. WFP implements these projects in areas that had been affected the worst inter-ethnic violence that erupted in 2010.

Villagers from the multi-ethnic district of Jany-Mahalla in Osh, southern Kyrgyzstan, carrying the food ration they receive as an incentive for volunteering to clean a canal that brought water to the village and crop fields. 

Representatives of eight ethnic groups participated in WFP's peace building projects in areas worst affected by the violent ethnic clashes of 2010. 

Women also volunteered to work on canal restoration under WFP's food-for-assets scheme and were proud to receive their food rations in return for their hard work. 

The leader of the Jany-Mahalla neighbourhood describes how the community reunited to jointly clean five kilometres of a dilapidated irrigation canal. The work required two large Russian KAMAZ to remove debris and overgrowth that obstructed the water flow. Thanks to WFP project, this spring the community reclaimed an additional 600 hectares of crop land that had been idle for years due to poor irrigation.

This seemingly simple irrigation canal means water, good harvest, peace and income for more than 2,500 households living in the area. WFP's peace building projects helped rehabilitate more than 100 kilometres of key irrigation infrastructure in post-conflict areas.