10 things you may have missed about WFP Uganda in 2019
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) works to save lives, build livelihoods and strengthen Uganda’s capacity to end hunger. WFP impacts food markets, productivity, processing and standards and enables regional supply chains in support of the country’s development.
WFP works with 19 Non-Governmental Organizations, 13 ministries and sister UN agencies, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UNICEF and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). WFP also works with universities, district governments and the private sector.
- Feeding 1.2 million refugees every month
Food and cash transfers that WFP provides to roughly 1.2 million refugees monthly in Uganda are the largest resource transfer they receive on a regular basis. Each month, given sufficient funding, WFP injects US$3.2 million into rural refugee settlements through cash transfers, enabling market growth and financial inclusion while allowing refugees to choose what they want to eat.
“Unfortunately, the overall refugee response in Uganda is chronically under-funded, therefore, many refugees are forced to use their food or cash in some form or fashion to meet other basic needs,” said Robert Dekker, head of WFP’s refugee response.
“It is only when these basic needs are assured that refugee communities are able to become self-reliant and resilient in line with Uganda’s Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework,” he added.
https://www.wfp.org/publications/meeting-needs-and-empowering-people
2. Addressing climate change, taking meals to 300 schools
In the dry and chronically impoverished Karamoja region, WFP targets the most vulnerable groups and households, preventing hunger and malnutrition especially in lean seasons, while building livelihoods, resilience and human capital. WFP’s daily school meals, for example, are an opportunity for 120,000 children in Karamoja to learn, finish school and build bright futures.
Meanwhile, WFP works with UNICEF to strengthen health systems through the Karamoja Nutrition Programme.
One challenge in Karamoja is insufficient attention paid to the nutrition of adolescent girls — at high risk of iron deficiency and anaemia because of poor diets.
https://www.wfp.org/publications/malnutrition-among-adolescent-girls-uganda-2018
3. Supporting social protection including through a single registry
WFP has assisted the Government in developing guidelines to implement labour-intensive public works — such as the construction of dams and roads — which are a key pillar of the National Social Protection Policy. WFP has started toward establishing a digital single registry to improve aid effectiveness in Karamoja.
One million people are registered so far. NGOs such as Mercy Corps and Catholic Relief Services use data to verify the groups they support. WFP is keen for all actors in Karamoja to use the Registry and feed information back into it so that partners know who is being assisted and in which ways to minimize duplication.
4. Silos and grain stores help spur zero food losses
WFP assists small-scale farmers’ groups to cut food losses and improve their capacity to engage more profitably with markets. So WFP built 74 modern community grain stores and introduced modern household silos provided through the private sector.
At the 74 centres, farmers including refugees and Karamoja communities, receive agricultural training, for example in group marketing and minimizing losses. Farmers have addresses where grain buyers including WFP, agricultural input dealers and the Government seed agency can find them.
WFP wants to see the Government buy grain from small-scale farmers at a fair price. This is possible if national food reserves are eventually established.
5. Uganda tops WFP suppliers, then a slump!
WFP also buys food from Ugandan-based traders to support local economies while reaching hungry people faster and reducing transport costs. With more traders and millers entering the Ugandan market, WFP is buying increasing volumes of food. In 2018, WFP bought 597,000 metric tons of grain in East Africa, of which Uganda supplied 33 percent valued at US$54 million.
“But we have seen a slump in 2019 where we bought only 43,700 metric tons valued at US$16.6 million by end of November,” said Daniella Nkamicaniye, head of WFP’s procurement unit. “This was because of delayed rains in most of the country, resulting in a 35–40 percent drop in production levels compared to 2018.”
6. Generating evidence, setting the agenda on food security
WFP generates knowledge and evidence on food insecurity and malnutrition. Whether contributing to Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analyses or conducting food security and vulnerability assessments and market surveys, WFP helps ensure it and its partners direct resources efficiently.
In 2019, WFP collaborated with Kampala Capital City Authority and the Uganda Bureau of Statistics to conduct Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analyses for Kampala and Uganda overall. Results will be available in early 2020.
7. You can now call us toll-free!
WFP established a toll-free helpline in 2017 to strengthen and promote its accountability to the people it assists. People can call a centralized and confidential system and ask about WFP or partners’ work or give feedback.
“It is important affected populations are not only informed but are also involved in decisions that affect their lives and that channels for complaints and feedback, such as a helpline, are made available to them,” says Anders Petersson, who heads WFP’s monitoring, evaluation and learning unit.
8. We’ve been mapping rural road access
In 2018, WFP commissioned the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) to conduct a road access assessment in refugee-hosting areas and Karamoja. This was to enable road-access planning based on evidence, while providing information on people’s access to food.
UNOPS uses the Rural Access Index (RAI), which measures the proportion of rural people living within 2 km of an all-season road. Developed by the World Bank in 2006, the RAI is among the most important global development indicators in the transport sector.
WFP would like central and district local governments to take advantage of this data in planning infrastructure developments and community projects such as road repairs.
9. Ebola Virus Disease: Strengthening national preparedness
An Ebola screening unit set up by WFP at Mpondwe town on the Uganda-Democratic Republic of Congo border in western Uganda is the most advanced border health screening facility in Uganda. In addition, WFP built an Ebola treatment unit, installed 30 tents for screening and isolation of suspected cases and donated five ambulances to the Ministry of Health.
All this is part of WFP’s efforts to strengthen Uganda’s capacity to sustainably manage emergencies. WFP strengthens both Government institutions and emergency health responders, such as the Uganda Red Cross Society.
10 — Uganda in the middle enables regional supply chains
At three warehouses with a total capacity of 127,000 metric tons, WFP receives, clears, stores and pre-positions food and non-food items for its operations and those of its humanitarian partners, including sister UN agencies.
From these three places, mainly local commercial transporters move food inside Uganda and to South Sudan, the DRC, the Central African Republic, Rwanda and Burundi.
Currently, WFP has contracts with 84 local transport companies. In thelast three years, WFP has injected a total of US$32 million into the Ugandan economy through its transport and warehouse services in the country.
WFP Uganda is very grateful to its donors: Canada, China, the European Commission, Germany, Irish Aid, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Norway, Russia, Sweden, UN Central Emergency Response Fund, the United Kingdom and United States of America.
Find out more about WFP in Uganda
