Germany helps WFP provide critical support in South Sudan
JUBA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed an additional €4 million contribution from Germany as overall humanitarian needs deepen in South Sudan with more than 7 million people requiring various kinds of support in 2019.
The contribution brings the total German contributions to WFP activities in South Sudan in 2018 to €27 million (US$30 million). This new funding will be used to provide food and nutrition assistance to vulnerable people, including the displaced and children under the age of two across the country.
The funding will also enable the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service, which is managed by WFP, to keep providing flights for the humanitarian community.
“Germany is committed to working together with WFP and other humanitarian agencies to help some of the most vulnerable people in South Sudan,” says Jan Hendrik van Thiel, Ambassador of Germany to South Sudan. "Alongside humanitarian assistance to South Sudan, Germany will continue to support recovery and resilience building activities that will help the country become a food secure nation in the long term.”
WFP provides various types of assistance in South Sudan – food assistance for people building or restoring community assets such as roads, emergency school meals to keep children in school and the treatment of moderate acute malnutrition among children and pregnant and nursing women.
In 2018, WFP assisted 5.1 million people through these programmes, while providing air transport services to 300 humanitarian organizations across the country. Meanwhile, WFP is preparing to respond to needs resulting from a poor agricultural season last year worsened by continued conflict.
“The contribution demonstrates the strong commitment from the people and Government of Germany to assist WFP in meeting the needs of the most vulnerable,” says Simon Cammelbeeck, WFP’s Acting Country Director in South Sudan. “It will allow us to preposition food ahead of the rainy season and deliver timely assistance to the people in need while giving the entire humanitarian community a reliable airlink across the country. “
In 2018, Germany was one of the top donors to WFP worldwide, contributing more than US$855 million to WFP operations globally. Germany is a long-standing partner of WFP’s assistance in South Sudan and has contributed close to US$141 million since independence in 2011.
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The United Nations World Food Programme - saving lives in emergencies and changing lives for millions through sustainable development. WFP works in more than 80 countries around the world, feeding people caught in conflict and disasters, and laying the foundations for a better future.
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