USA Contributes US$11 Million To Fight Hunger In Central African Republic
BANGUI – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a US$11 million contribution from the United States that will help more than half a million people in Central African Republic (C.A.R.) combat deepening hunger, amid a new wave of unrest.
The funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will allow WFP to provide food and nutritional assistance to roughly 550,000 people across the country, including internally displaced people (IDPs), refugees, young students and extremely vulnerable host communities.
“With the increased violence and mounting hunger in Central African Republic, this significant contribution from USAID comes at a critical time,” said WFP Country Director in C.A.R., Felix B.F. Gomez. “It will enable WFP to continue food distributions and scale up assistance to people newly displaced by the recent uptick of violence.”
The US contribution will not only be used to support general food distributions, but also for WFP emergency school meals and early recovery efforts in areas that have stabilized, including projects that help smallholder farmers to recover and return to their fields.
The US support also comes at a moment when WFP operations in C.A.R. face a funding shortfall, forcing WFP to cut rations in some cases. At the same time, recent unrest has uprooted tens of thousands more people in a country where nearly half the population depends on humanitarian assistance to survive.
“For the vulnerable families that are taking the brunt of the suffering, this new US support is crucial to save lives and prevent vulnerable people from falling deeper into crisis,” Gomez added.
In 2017, WFP plans to reach roughly 700,000 people in C.A.R. with food and nutritional assistance.
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WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.
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For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):
Cathy Diop, WFP/Bangui: Mob. +236 72 18 75 98
Elizabeth Bryant, WFP/Dakar, Mob. +221 776 394 271