Djibouti country strategic plan (2020-2024)

CSP approved at the EB November 2019 session.

Revision 01 approved by the CD in September 2020

Revision 02 approved by the RD in December 2022

Revision 03 approved by the RD in November 2024

Ranking 172nd of 189 countries in the Human Development Index, Djibouti is susceptible to pervasive food insecurity, malnutrition and gender inequalities. Widespread poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition, poor access to public services, socio-political instability in the region, persistent gender inequalities and climatic crises affect both citizens and refugees.

Food security and nutrition are challenged by climate change, extremely low food production, lack of arable land and access to water, especially in rural areas, high food prices – 90 percent of all food is imported – and low resilience among households, especially those headed by women, and in communities.

There are well formulated national policies for promoting food security and nutrition, but their implementation is hampered by poor coordination and limited national capacity for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 17. Weak disaster preparedness and response capacities also erode the resilience of poor households. Malnutrition is driven by poverty, food insecurity, inadequate maternal, infant and young child feeding practices, diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea, HIV and tuberculosis, low coverage of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions, limited access to health services and gender inequalities.

This country strategic plan will support the Government’s priorities for achieving food and nutrition security through activities that constitute a significant shift from previous WFP programmes: stronger partnerships to strengthen national capacity in school feeding, nutrition, social protection, emergency preparedness, agricultural production support for rural and urban women and men equitably, vocational training for peace and prosperity and supply chain management. It provides for a gradual transition from WFP’s previous activities by focusing on support for nationally-led social protection programming.

WFP will partner with national and local authorities, United Nations agencies, civil society and the private sector to implement integrated programmes targeting the most vulnerable people, progressively shifting to the building of national capacity to formulate, manage and implement sustainable programmes for achieving zero hunger.

The country strategic plan is based on a national zero hunger strategic review and is aligned with the Government’s Vision Djibouti 2035 and the United Nations development assistance framework for 2018–2022. It contributes to Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 17 and to WFP’s Strategic Results 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8 through three strategic outcomes:

➢ Strategic outcome 1: Refugees, asylum seekers and shock-affected populations have access to adequate and nutritious food throughout the year.

➢ Strategic outcome 2: Food-insecure Djiboutians in targeted regions and refugees have improved access to food and improved nutrition status by 2025.

➢ Strategic outcome 3: Authorities and local partners have enhanced capacity to support the humanitarian community in the Horn of Africa throughout the year.

WFP will pursue its shift to providing technical assistance, services and coordination support for national food and nutrition security policies and programmes through gender-transformative approaches that enable progress on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Nutrition-sensitive programming will guide the various interventions in the country strategic plan portfolio. Safe, accessible and responsive feedback and complaint mechanisms will be mainstreamed throughout the country strategic plan. The prominence of technical support and capacity strengthening reflects efforts to engage in evidence generation and a gradual transition to sustainable national ownership