Targeted Food Assistance to Victims of Armed Conflicts and Other Vulnerable Groups

Armed conflict continues to affect the Democratic Republic of the Congo, causing massive population displacement. At the end of 2014, about 2.7 million people were internally displaced, mostly in the east.

Despite the country’s considerable natural resource wealth and agricultural potential, 63 percent of its population of 71 million people are poor, with 6.5 million people facing food security and livelihood crises. National global acute malnutrition averages 8 percent, although rates in some territories exceed “serious” and “emergency” thresholds. About 3.5 million school-aged children are not enrolled in school.

The determinants of food insecurity include poverty, poor infrastructure, inadequate access to basic social services and markets, and poor eating habits. Conflict and population displacement are the major acute shocks, compounded by vulnerability to natural hazards. Insecurity is likely to persist and possibly increase following the 2016 end of the mandate of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission and elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in neighbouring countries.

This protracted relief and recovery operation will operate mostly in conflict-affected areas in the east to improve the food and nutrition security of some of the country’s most vulnerable populations: internally displaced groups, returnees, refugees and host communities. It will provide assistance in the form of relief food rations, food assistance for assets, school feeding and nutrition support. WFP will determine the most appropriate transfer modality using sectoral capacity assessments and risk and cost-efficiency analyses.

The operation is aligned with the 2015 United Nations Humanitarian Action Plan, the Government’s second-generation Poverty Reduction Strategy and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework. It will contribute to WFP Strategic Objectives 1 and 2, the Zero Hunger Challenge and Sustainable Development Goal 2. It has benefitted from an extensive consultation process and takes into account the recommendations of both internal and external evaluations of WFP’s portfolio.