Mauritania country strategic plan (2019-2024)

CSP approved at EB.2/2018.

Revision 01 approved by the RD in June 2020.

Revision 02 approved by the CD in December 2021.

Revision 03 approved by the RD in July 2022.

Revision 04 approved by the RD in February 2023.

Mauritania is a lower-middle-income country that has significantly reduced poverty and chronic malnutrition but still faces various humanitarian and development challenges. Vulnerability, food insecurity, malnutrition and gender inequalities are coupled with land degradation and frequent climate shocks, and exacerbated by insecurity and population displacements in the Sahel.

The Government’s development aims are set out in the 2016–2030 Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Shared Prosperity: to reduce food insecurity to under 5 percent, eradicate severe food insecurity and reduce global acute malnutrition to under 2 percent by 2030.

This country strategic plan will enable the country office to reposition itself to support a national adaptive social protection system. Based on the 2017 national zero hunger strategic review, a 2016 country portfolio evaluation and other lessons learned, WFP will adopt a holistic long-term approach that is scalable when shocks occur, nationally driven and focused on the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. WFP will address the causes of vulnerability while supporting country capacities to ensure sustainability and national ownership.

Demand-driven institutional capacity strengthening is central to this strategic shift. Gender-transformative and nutrition-sensitive programming will be mainstreamed, and WFP will work through partnerships to maximize effectiveness and impact.

This country strategic plan addresses six mutually reinforcing strategic outcomes:

• Strategic outcome 1: Crisis-affected people in targeted areas, including refugees, are able to meet basic food and nutrition needs during and in the aftermath of crises.
• Strategic outcome 2: Food-insecure populations in targeted regions, including school-age children, have access to adequate and nutritious food all year.
• Strategic outcome 3: Nutritionally vulnerable populations in targeted areas, including children and pregnant and lactating women and girls, have improved nutritional status all year.
• Strategic outcome 4: Food-insecure populations and communities exposed to climate shocks in targeted areas have more resilient livelihoods and sustainable food systems all year.
• Strategic outcome 5: National institutions have strengthened capacities to manage food security, nutrition and social protection policies and programmes, including an adaptive (shock responsive) social protection system, by 2030.
• Strategic outcome 6: Humanitarian and development partners have access to common services that permit them to reach and operate in targeted areas all year.

This country strategic plan is aligned with WFP’s Strategic Results 1, 2, 4, 5 and 8, the 2018–2022 sustainable development partnership framework and the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel.