Regional Food Security and Nutrition Context 2021
In 2021, Western Africa faced unprecedented challenges, including protracted conflicts, health emergencies, climatic shocks, and economic problems.
Zenebech Kahsay is relieved to watch her children play once again, their energy renewed at last by bread she’s baked after receiving a 15kg bag of wheat from the World Food Programme (WFP) at a food distribution in Tahtay Adyabo, in Ethiopia’s northern province of Tigray.
“My children were dizzy with hunger,” explains Kahsay as she grinds dark brown grains of wheat with a pestle and mortar.
“In a year when the world is already facing an unprecedented level of hunger, it’s just tragic to see hunger raising its head in what has long been the breadbasket of Europe,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley during a visit to a staging hub set up by the organization on the Polish-Ukrainian border.
The Climate Services and Diversification of Climate-Sensitive Livelihoods project aims to support 102,000 individuals from 2022 to 2025. It involves delivering climate services, enhancing adaptive capacities in rural communities, and building the capabilities of government bodies, local authorities, and partners.
World food prices were pushed ever higher in 2022. Gains made in pursuit of ‘zero hunger’ by 2030 have in many instances been reversed in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, where hunger and poverty continue to rise. One key reason for this is conflict.
On 24 February, 2022, Alyona woke up in her home in southern Ukraine to news of military aircraft screeching overhead.
“We had a simple, calm life and suddenly war started,” recalls the 32-year-old mother of three.
A funding crunch is forcing the World Food Programme to scale back food assistance in Yemen, reducing the rations of 8 million people to barely half the daily food minimum basket that is standard for the organization. This comes at the worst possible time for the 13 million people in the country who depend on WFP’s food assistance to survive.
WFP welcomed today’s opening of the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, which enabled a first convoy of trucks to bring in urgently needed food, water and other supplies provided by the Egyptian Red Crescent and the United Nations for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have been struggling amid desperate conditions.
“I’m the parent here, I’m responsible for everything,” says Egnetta, a woman in her sixties who heads a household of 20 in Bulawayo, Matabeleland, in the southwest of Zimbabwe.
Looking after her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren leaves little time for seeking paid employment.
“It’s not an easy job for a single mother and a widow to be the breadwinner of such a big fam
With a population already struggling with the effects of persistent conflicts, political instability, and the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19, this first-ever climate risk insurance payment in Mali will help WFP provide emergency and resilience-building support in a timely manner to those most vulnerable to climate extremes from March to May 2022.