WFP to launch $49m plan to help those hit by conflict

Kathmandu, July 10:

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Nepal is launching a $49 million recovery programme to assist over 1.2 million people who continue to struggle daily after being affected by insurgency, a press release issued by the WFP in Nepal stated.

“Despite the political, social and security progress of the past six months, over one million people in Nepal are still struggling with the effects of the conflict — damage to critical infrastructure, and unequal access to basic services.

This is on top of food insecurity exacerbated by three years of drought, conflict-related market disruptions and the ongoing tensions in the Tarai,” the press release quoted WFP’s Country Representative in Nepal, Richard Ragan, as saying.

The aim of the programme is to support Nepal’s peace process by providing the most conflict-affected communities with quick-impact economic opportunities and local assets that will serve as a tangible peace dividend, and contribute to longer-term food security in Nepal.

Under the year-long programme, WFP will provide food aid to some of the most conflict-affected communities in 28 districts across Nepal.

Programme activities will focus on three areas: critical infrastructure, return and reintegration, and non-formal education. The objective of community-based activities will be to improve market access, create short-term employment, and facilitate basic service delivery.

WFP projects in Nepal hope to benefit currently approximately 1.4 million people, including food assistance to over 108,000 Bhutanese refugees. Operations include emergency assistance to drought-affected people in Mid- and Far-Western Nepal, and food for work, school feeding, and mother and child heath care activities.

As a result of the eleven-year conflict, over 13,000 people have been killed, an estimated 200,000 displaced and thousands of cases of critical infrastructure damage have been reported, the release added.