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BACKGROUND:
Nepal is a least developed, low income, food deficit country. It ranks
143 of 175 on the UNDP Human Development Index of 2003. Of its population
of some 23 million an estimated 42% live below the poverty line and more
than one third consume fewer than 2,250 kcal a day. The Nepal Country
Programme aims to bring about sustainable improvements in food security
for the most disadvantaged, particularly women and children, in highly
food insecure areas, mainly in the far and midwestern hill and mountain
regions of the country. Since 1996 there has been a growing level of insecurity
across Nepal due to Maoist insurgency, particularly in the rural areas.
This insecurity has escalated significantly in the past 18 months and
the implementation of WFP Country Programme activities is now facing new
challenges in the more remote districts of Nepal. Most of the food supplied
by WFP Nepal is procured locally
OVERVIEW:
The five year Country Programme began in 2002 and includes two previously
existing projects in its four activities: Rural Community Infrastructure
Works (RCIW) and Food for Education (FfE). The Mother and Child Health
Care (MCHC) activity had been running for one year as a pilot project
under Food for Education but was established as an activity in its own
right under the Country Programme. The Global Food for Education Initiative
(GFEI) is a supplementary activity providing school feeding to five districts
in addition to the sixteen districts covered by the Food for Education
activity. GFEI was officially launched in May 2002. Assistance is targeted
to the most food insecure districts in Nepal which are identified through
a process of Vulnerability Analysis Mapping.
The RCIW activity, run through the Ministry of Local Development, began
in 1995 and now operates in 25 of the 75 districts in Nepal. The key objective
is to assist poor households create and maintain physical assets that
improve food availability and access, and to support income generation
through a variety of micro-projects. The activity combines support for
the construction of community assets, such as rural roads, mule trails,
irrigation and soil conservation structures, while also supporting other
micro-projects in the surrounding area to promote income generation.
In 2004, a Quick Impact Programme (QIP) proposal was implemented in 9
conflict affected districts presenting a new modality for using Rural
Community Infrastructure Works (RCIW) resources provided by WFP. The QIP
is an attempt to assist highly food insecure population in areas difficult
to access by government authorities due to civil strife.
Since October 2002, World Food Programme has surveyed the food security
situation and implementation of its Country Programme Activities in 32
Districts across Nepal. The Department of International Development (DFID)
funds this FST project through a grant that expires in December 2006.
The Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) Unit manages the team and
project grant.
The FfE activity, run through the Ministry of Education, began in 1996
with the main objective of enabling food insecure families to invest in
basic primary level education, with a special incentive for girls. The
children receive a hot midday meal of fortified blended food and the mothers
of girls who achieve more than 80% attendance receive an additional incentive
of vegetable oil. A deworming programme is run in conjunction with the
school feeding.
The MCHC activity, run through the Ministry of Health, provides an essential
nutritional supplement to infants and mothers before and after delivery.
It also serves as a tool to promote nutritional education and the regular
use of local health services. The activity supports the Nutrition and
Safe Motherhood goals of the Government.
Additionally, WFP has, since 1992, provided assistance to the Bhutanese
refugees located in seven camps in eastern Nepal through a protracted
relief programme. A long running political process to find durable solutions
to this situation is still ongoing with few tangible results to date.
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