Food Assistance to El-Niño affected populations in Papua New Guinea

This operation has been modified as per budget revision 3 (see below)

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has been suffering from drought and frost caused by the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon since mid-2015. These events have seriously disrupted food production and livelihoods and led to widespread food and water shortages. While there has been some rain since mid-December there remain pockets of acute suffering in some parts of the country, as highlighted by a Mobile Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (mVAM) survey carried out between January and February 2016. This Emergency Operation (EMOP) will address the needs of the populations identified by the survey as the most food insecure.

With staple foods in short supply in the markets and harvests still months away, people in the most affected communities require immediate life-saving assistance. In these areas, almost all had to resort to coping strategies such as surviving on famine foods and reducing the number of meals and/or the quantity of food eaten during each meal.

Given the limited availability of food supplies in the markets and the fact that prices have sharply increased in the past few months, in-kind food assistance is the most appropriate transfer modality.

This operation stems directly from the results of the mVAM survey conducted by WFP in partnership with PNG's National Disaster Centre (NDC) between January and February 2016. The survey identified 6 Local Level Government (LLG) areas where food security has been most severely affected by the drought and frost, and additional 48 LLGs where the food security impact has been high (see map). This EMOP will focus on the 6 most severely affected LLGs, thus addressing the needs of the populations most at risk.

Despite the efforts of Government of PNG, since September 2015, to provide food assistance to those most affected, food security conditions continue to deteriorate. So far no appeal for international assistance has been officially issued. However, the Government has been open for humanitarian agencies to provide humanitarian relief in the country. WFP itself has been formally invited by the NDC to assist the government’s national drought response effort. Representatives of government agencies involved with the relief response have been participating to clusters and other coordination meetings.

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This BR 3 proposes a no-cost extension in time for the EMOP 200966 until 30 November 2016.