Mauritania country strategic plan (2024–2028)

CSP approved at EB February 2024

The Islamic Republic of Mauritania has made significant development gains in recent years. Extreme poverty stands at 6.5 percent, with most of the poor in rural areas. The country is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation and is threatened by cyclical droughts and their consequences for the livelihoods of rural and transhumant populations. Highly reliant on international markets for food, Mauritania is exposed to inflationary trends and supply chain bottlenecks, which affect commodity availability. The security situation in neighbouring Mali remains of concern and the growing number of refugees is compromising social cohesion.

Through this country strategic plan, WFP will respond to humanitarian needs while also addressing the root causes of food insecurity and paving the way for stronger and more sustainable government-led solutions. Throughout the five-year implementation period, WFP will focus on reinforcing the Government’s existing programmes, with emphasis on a gradual transition from direct implementation to the provision of enhanced capacity strengthening support for Government in its efforts to achieve national priorities related to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

WFP will work towards four integrated country strategic plan outcomes:

➢ Outcome 1 centres on saving lives by ensuring that populations in targeted areas are better able to respond to their urgent needs immediately before, during and after shocks.

➢ Outcome 2 contributes to building resilience by providing vulnerable communities, particularly women and young people, in shock-prone areas with the ability to better face weather shocks/stressors via access to basic social services, strengthened human capital and enhanced market opportunities.

➢ Outcome 3 addresses the root causes of vulnerability, focusing on providing support that enhances the capacity of national institutions to establish a robust, effective and adaptive social protection system encompassing school-based programmes, malnutrition management and food security policy.

➢ Outcome 4 supports crisis response and development activities by providing humanitarian flights to hard-to-reach areas and logistics and procurement services for the Government and partners.

WFP will continue to focus on saving lives, providing support for shock-affected populations, including refugees, as required. WFP will maintain its capacity to respond to large-scale shocks but will slowly reduce its implementation footprint, strengthening the Government’s response capacity.

WFP’s “changing lives” agenda will be addressed through support for the national social protection system and the implementation of an integrated resilience package in areas with high levels of chronic food insecurity and susceptibility to the effects of climate change. Following a holistic approach to development, the integrated resilience package will overlay key interventions at various stages of the life cycle and will include the creation of productive agricultural and pastoral assets, unconditional school feeding and nutrition management. To foster long-term sustainability, links will be established between the components of the integrated resilience package and governance structures and programmes.

Systems strengthening, particularly of the national shock-responsive social protection system, is paramount to the sustainability of interventions and the gradual transition of response operations to maturing government systems. A key component of this country strategic plan is the application of WFP’s technical expertise to respond to gaps in government response in order to strengthen national systems to ensure that they can cover needs both generally and during shocks.

Strong partnerships with the Government and development partners are critical to the success of WFP’s strategy. Emphasis will be placed on fostering gender equality, using approaches that are transformative for the lives of women, girls and young people and that ensure environmental sustainability and prevent unintended negative consequences of WFP’s interventions for affected populations.