World Food Programme

WFP IN MALAWI

WFP started its first operation in Malawi in January 1965. The mission of the World Food Programme is to support communities in reducing their food insecurity and vulnerability to external shocks and natural disasters. The main role of WFP in Malawi is to contribute to disaster mitigation through the improvement of household food security in highly vulnerable areas of the country. The disaster mitigation programmes have a safety net initiative, which addresses chronic and structural poverty and targets areas with acute food deficiency thereby addressing transitional poverty.

WFP is currently implementing four programmes:

Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation - Assistance to food insecure people suffering from the effects of natural disasters and HIV and AIDS (PRRO 10586.0)

WFP assists people in Malawi who are vulnerable to food insecurity and the impact of HIV and AIDS through this operation. This programme has a relief and recovery component. Activities include:  

• Targeted Food Distribution to vulnerable households rendered food insecure due to natural factors such as floods, droughts (erratic rainfall) and those vulnerable due to HIV and AIDS. A criterion for selecting affected areas is based on the findings of the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC).
• Food for Asset (FFA) Activities – FFA enables communities create sustainable agricultural assets that address chronic bottlenecks to food security among highly vulnerable. FFA activities will help to promote the creation of assets such as small-scale irrigation infrastructure; rehabilitate the worst-affected river banks through re-afforestation to reduce run-off and soil erosion; and encourage the creation and/or rehabilitation of other assets that increase crop production and mitigate the impact of future drought and related shocks.
• Support to people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS - Food assistance is provided to households taking care of chronically ill people and keeping orphans and vulnerable children (OVC); mothers enrolled in the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme and patients on TB treatment. Food insecurity is a major risk to successful antiretroviral therapy for HIV positive people.
• Therapeutic feeding Therapeutic feeding targets severely malnourished children and their caretakers and is implemented through health facilities in collaboration with Ministry of Health, UNICEF, FAO and NGOs.
• Supplementary feeding – The programme improves the nutritional and health status of malnourished pregnant and lactating mothers and moderately malnourished under-five children through increased consumption of nutritious food and improved health and nutrition practices. In addition to food assistance, training in good health, nutrition and care practices and HIV/AIDS is given.
• Cash and Food for Livelihood Pilot project (CFLP) was implemented from October 2008 to May 2009 in Chikwawa and Machinga districts. Built on lessons from previous cash transfer programmes by NGOs in Malawi and WFP in other countries, the objective is to explore the appropriateness of cash and food (or combination) in different contexts in addressing food insecurity. Lessons from the pilot would be used to shape WFP policy and feed into Government’s own knowledge base as regards appropriate intervention instruments in various food security and market conditions in future.

Development Programme 10581: School feeding

Pupils in the targeted primary schools receive a daily mid morning porridge every school day; perhaps the only meal the child will have in a day. (Credit - WFP Malawi)

• School feeding has enabled poor households to invest in human capital through education and training. The Ministry of Education with support from WFP and other partners is implementing the activity. Pupils in the targeted primary schools receive a daily mid morning porridge (Corn Soy Blend) each school day. In addition, the programme provides a Take Home Ration (THR) to girls and double-orphaned boys who attend at least 80 percent of school days, as an incentive to stay in school. The programme focuses on food insecure districts to minimize school drop out rates, improve school enrolment and student concentration. The programme currently supports 642,000 pupils in 679 schools in 13 districts. The criteria for selecting these districts, besides the high incidence of food insecurity, include enrolment, attendance and drop out rates (particularly of girls), the presence of other collaborating partners and high HIV/AIDS prevalence.

Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO 10309.1): Assistance to Refugees

• Assistance to Refugee Programme - Since June 2002 to present, the World Food Programme (WFP) has been providing food assistance to refugees residing in Dzaleka camp, as well as those arriving in the country through Karonga transit shelter in the northern region. The PRRO provides relief and recovery assistance to the refugees through general food distributions in the camp and at the transit shelter.

Special Operation (SO 10827.0): Roads and Bridge Rehabilitation in support of WFP Operations in Malawi

The road infrastructure in Malawi is amongst the poorest in Africa and further deteriorates as a result of flooding, which breaks down the road surface and washes away bridges. So far, WFP has managed to deliver relief cargo using its specialized fleet of 6x6 or 4x4 cargo trucks. Still, delays occur by as much as days, weeks, and sometimes even months – creating potentially life-threatening conditions to the people most in need of food in Malawi.

Working in close collaboration with and with assistance from the Malawi Roads Authority, the Ministry of Local Government, RedR of Australia as well as other stakeholders in roads infrastructure rehabilitation such as the European Commission and Malawi Social Action Fund, WFP launched this Special Operation to facilitate the timely delivery of relief food and non-food assistance using the least expensive mode of transport on 12 critical routes in 7 districts of Malawi, namely Kasungu, Salima, Phalombe, Thyolo, Mulanje, Chikwawa and Nsanje.

WFP PARTNERS

The Government of Malawi is WFP’s main partner. WFP works with other UN agencies, international organisations and both local and international non-governmental organisations in the country. The primary role of WFP is to support the government in organising and managing food assistance and delivering it to the beneficiaries. Partners such as NGOs and government ministries distribute food to the beneficiaries from agreed delivery points

For more information on WFP Malawi for Factsheets, operational briefs and more, visit www.wfp.org, or contact us
World Food Programme
Kang'ombe Building
P.O. Box 30571, Lilongwe 3
Tel: (265) 1 774 666
Fax: (265) 1 773 785