WFP contributes to watershed management through its Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) programmes, where people receive cash or food-based transfers to address their immediate food needs, allowing them more available time to build or boost assets, such as rehabilitating degraded land; digging trenches; or working on gully reclamation, check dams, tree regeneration and similar structures at community and household levels.
The restoration of degraded ecosystems helps the most vulnerable and food insecure communities manage natural resources sustainably, which also better equips them to meet their needs and safeguard these resources for future generations. The approach contributes to changing the downward spiral of degrading landscapes to a virtuous cycle of increasing productivity and income opportunities.
Watershed rehabilitation and management involves the community, not just individuals. WFP places communities at the centre of activities through the implementation of Community-Based Participatory Planning (CBPP) sessions where farming communities identify their own challenges and ways to address them.
