Cuba Interim Country Strategic Plan (2020-2021)

ICSP approved at EB November 2019 session.

Revision 01 approved by the CD in September 2020

Revision 02 approved by the RD in December.2020

Revision 03 approved by the RD in February 2021.

Revision 04 approved by the ED in May 2021.

For nearly six decades Cuba has ensured progress in eradicating poverty and hunger through free and universal access to basic services and social protection programmes. Food security and nutrition are high priorities for the Cuban Government, as outlined in its National Plan for Economic and Social Development through 2030. People's right to food is maintained in the new constitution approved in 2019, along with the goal of achieving food security for all. However, there are still major food security and nutrition challenges referred to in national development plans.

Among those challenges, this interim country strategic plan will focus on national food production, which is insufficient to meet the recommended nutrition requirements of the Cuban population; the impacts of extreme hydro-meteorological events and climate change on food systems; the limited access to diverse, good-quality and safe foods; micronutrient deficiencies as a public health problem, with an increasing trend of overweight and obesity; and the lack of a food security and nutrition monitoring system.

As part of the United Nations system, WFP is participating in a joint exercise with the Government to define areas of collaboration for the next cooperation framework, based on national priorities. This process and the ongoing United Nations Development System reform have affected United Nations programming cycles, including the period covered by WFP’s country strategic plan, which has been postponed to ensure that it coincides with the other cycles.

This interim country strategic plan covers the period January–December 2020. It will serve as a transition to the country strategic plan and will focus on evidence generation and consolidating successful activities that are of high priority for national food security and nutrition plans. At the same time, the introduction of pilot activities and new transfer modalities will inform the future country strategic plan.

In 2020, WFP will focus on increasing the resilience of local food systems so that they can better meet the demand of social safety nets, with a special focus on the prevention of malnutrition and food insecurity among the most vulnerable groups, aiming at four strategic outcomes:

➢ Strategic outcome 1: Key food system stakeholders have enhanced capacities to mitigate risks and better support social safety nets by 2021.

➢ Strategic outcome 2: Nutritionally vulnerable groups, including school-age children, have improved nutrition status and more diversified and nutritious diets by 2021.

➢ Strategic outcome 3: National and local authorities have strengthened capacities to ensure food and nutrition systems’ resilience to shocks by 2021.

➢ Strategic outcome 4: Populations affected by natural hazards maintain access to food during and in the aftermath of a disaster.

In order to achieve these outcomes WFP will work to support local food production so that it is better able to meet the demand from social safety nets; to enhance disaster risk management and resilience building capacities; and to improve knowledge of healthy feeding and nutrition. In addition, WFP will introduce pilot activities and transfer modalities on a small scale in areas such as school meals for children in primary rural ”external” schools;2cash transfers for municipal institutions dealing with education, health and commerce for the purchase of locally produced food; the strengthening of the national food security and nutrition early warning system through the development of a crop monitoring system; the promotion of innovative financial tools (such as preventive and parametric insurance) to increase climate resilience; and the strengthening of capacities for civil defence multi-hazard situation rooms.

WFP will contribute to a more comprehensive national approach to food security and nutrition that has a gender-transformative element. A gender and age analysis of targeted populations will inform programme implementation to ensure that the differentiated needs, contributions and capacities of women, girls, boys and men are considered in all aspects of the interim country strategic plan. Nutrition will be integrated into the activities to ensure that activities are nutrition-sensitive.

This interim country strategic plan is aligned with the WFP Strategic Plan (2017–2021) and contributes to Strategic Results 1 on access to food, 2 on ending malnutrition, 4 on sustainable food systems and 5 on capacity strengthening. It will support national efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 17, partnership with national and local authorities, other United Nations agencies, technical, academic and research institutions and other actors.

WFP will also continue to engage with government counterparts on the formulation of the country strategic plan.