WFP ramps up support to people affected by the socio-economic fallout from coronavirus in Chad
N’DJAMENA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is ramping up its support to the Government of Chad’s World Bank-funded Food Security and Response Plan for people affected by the growing social and economic fall-out from the COVID-19 pandemic.
WFP will provide food assistance for three months to more than 433,000 people who may struggle to feed themselves in eight provinces (Batha, Bahr el Gazel, Guéra, Kanem, Lac, Logone oriental, Logone Occidental and Wadi Fira) as measures to help contain the spread of COVID-19 affects livelihoods, limit access to food and disrupt supply chains.
“COVID-19 is more than a health crisis - and requires swift, coordinated, determined and ground-breaking action from all sectors,” said Eric Perdison, WFP’s Deputy Country Director in Chad. “The Government of Chad, the World Bank and WFP are acting together to protect those who are most vulnerable to the disruptions that this may bring to people’s access to diversified and nutritious food.”
Funding to support the plan will be provided following the World Bank and Government of Chad agreement to reprioritize a total of US$ 22 million from two existing World Bank-funded projects[1] to cushion the socio-economic impacts from COVID-19.
According to the agreement signed with the Chadian government on 22 May, WFP will purchase supplies including sorghum, corn, millet and rice, beans, black-eyed peas (niébé) and vegetable oil from local markets in Chad in a bid to help boost the local economy.
Earlier this month, as part of its support to the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, WFP provided 80-100 bed mobile clinics to the Ministry of Health to support provincial hospitals in case an upsurge in the number of cases takes place.
# # #
The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies, building prosperity and supporting a sustainable future for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.
Follow us on Twitter: @WFP_Chad @WFP_Wafrica @WFP_media @WFP_fr
[1] The two grant agreements include the US$ 41 million Climate Resilient Productivity and Agriculture Improvement Project (ProPAD) and the US$ 30 million Rural Mobility and Connectivity Project (PMCR, French acronym). US$ 7 million from the ProPAD project and US$ 4.2 million from the PMCR has been reprioritised to mitigate the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19, with the Government of Chad making a request to the World Bank to advance and additional US$ 10.8 million from the PMCR to do the same.
