THE UNITED NATIONS WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME (WFP)

THE UNITED NATIONS WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME (WFP)

WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency: each year, we give food to an average of 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs, including 58 million hungry children, in at least 80 of the world's poorest countries. WFP — We Feed People.

Inge Breuer - WFP Country Director/Representative in the Russian Federation

In Russia WFP has been implementing its activities in the North Caucasus since January 2000. Despite the continuing insecurity, IDPs have been able to rely on WFP emergency food assistance which has become, along with other humanitarian relief, part of their overall strategy. Thus food assistance has helped affected households maintain some assets and prevent further deterioration in their economic status, as well as – for those based in Ingushetia – allowing greater freedom of whether or not to return to Chechnya. During the five years of WFP emergency operations in the North Caucasus, donors supported the implementation of WFP activities generously. Throughout this period WFP resourced over 187,000 tons of food commodities worth US$91,5 million distributed to about 300,000 displaced population in the North Caucasus.

From the outset of the conflict, nearly one third of the Chechen Republic's total population of just under one million were displaced and about 200,000 people fled to neighbouring Ingushetia, of whom about 22,000 people remain. A further some 150,000 remain displaced within Chechnya itself. Smaller numbers fled to Dagestan, Stavropol, Kabardino-Balkaria and Georgia.

The main objective of the emergency operation was to prevent the further impoverishment of the internally displaced in Ingushetia and food-insecure vulnerable populations in Chechnya and to strengthen copying and livelihood strategies. Presently WFP is phasing over from broad-based free food distribution to more targeted interventions that aim to increase coping strategy and support self- reliance. To achieve this in most affective way, the Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) assessment is currently carried out in the North Caucasus, the results of which will allow determining relevance of continued food assistance in addressing problems that have severely affected the food security situation in the North Caucasus. It is also going to help measuring and understanding the changes in the vulnerability profile of the covered populations over time.

During these years WFP was implementing General Food Distribution (GFD), Food for Education (FFE) and Food Fund activities.

GFD programme was aimed at enabling food security and prevent further impoverishment of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ingushetia and conflict-affected food-insecure population groups in Chechnya.

The FFE programme was designed to contribute to increasing access to basic education with an emphasis on reducing gender disparity and enhancing primary school-children learning capacity in Chechnya. Presently WFP is providing hot lunches to about 124,600 children in 413 primary and boarding schools in 17 districts of Chechnya.

Food Fund activities are aimed at food support by providing an incentive or compensation to enable the neediest population to participate in Food for Work (FFW), Food for Training (FFT) and other activities that will create assets that will directly help beneficiaries become more self-reliant. In addition within the framework of the Food Fund activities WFP is implementing jointly with Caritas (since 2006 also with the local Ministry of Labour and Social Protection) a Dining Hall project for 1,600 most vulnerable persons (handicapped, blind etc.) in Grozny city. In 2004, within the Food Fund activities WFP together with WHO and MSF-Holland commenced anti-tuberculosis projects in Ingushetia and Chechnya by providing food aid to TB in- and outpatients to assure the sufficient daily intake necessary as a part of the TB treatment and an incentive for patient to continue the second, outpatient stage of their treatment. Presently WFP is considering a possibility to start providing food support to HIV/AIDS affected population in the region.

WFP is implementing its activities though cooperating partners such as DRC (GFD), IR (GFD, FFE) CHA (GFD, FFE), World Vision Russian Federation (FFE), International Medical Corps (FFT), Caritas and Ministry of Labour and Social Protection (DH), MSF-Holland and WHO (TB project), various state farms in Chechnya (FFW) and local NGO Vesta that helps to implement monitoring in Chechnya to where WFP staff’s access is limited for security reasons.

WFP is implementing its activities though cooperating partners such as DRC (GFD), IR (GFD, FFE) CHA (GFD, FFE), World Vision Russian Federation (FFE), International Medical Corps (FFT), Caritas and Ministry of Labour and Social Protection (DH), MSF-Holland and WHO (TB project), various state farms in Chechnya (FFW) and local NGO Vesta that helps to implement monitoring in Chechnya to where WFP staff’s access is limited for security reasons.

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