Projects

Short Description:

Overall goal

The overall objective of the project is to save lives, reduce malnutrition and protect communities’ livelihoods, thus promoting stability and contributing to Zero Hunger in Burkina Faso. The Austrian contribution will support Strategic Outcome 3 of the Burkina Faso Country Strategic Plan: Nutritionally vulnerable populations in targeted areas, including children aged 6–59 months, pregnant and lactating women and girls and anti-retroviral therapy clients, have improved nutrition status all year.

Expected results

The contribution from the Austrian Development Agency will allow WFP to provide food and nutritional assistance to a total of 6,000 pregnant and lactating women and 15,600 malnourished children via prevention or treatment of malnutrition activities.

Target group / Beneficiaries

Activities will focus on internally-displaced people and host communities. The total number of direct beneficiaries from this intervention will be 21,600 people. Strategic partnerships and synergies are crucial in delivering full packages of interventions addressing the needs of targeted beneficiaries in terms of nutrition, water, hygiene, sanitation, health, education, and progressive resilience to shocks.

In parts of the country where health centers are closed, WFP has started to partner with nutrition NGOs present in the area who are supporting local health authorities and community health workers (CHW) to implement moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) treatment services with linkage to severe acute malnutrition (SAM) treatment. The malnutrition prevention programme will not be implemented as a standalone intervention. Blanket supplementary feeding programmes (BSFP) will be implemented by national and international NGOs in conjunction with household food assistance with referrals of children and Pregnant and Lactating Women to and from MAM/SAM treatment centers as necessary to ensure prevention – treatment – prevention continuum.

To promote gender equality and participation of everyone, WFP will partner with the traditional and religious leaders. Positive changes for gender equality cannot be achieved without involving and raising awareness among the community and religious leaders who are locally considered as the keepers of tradition. These leaders are strategic partners to impulse a deep social change among their communities.

Activities

WFP will provide nutritional support in form of nutritious and fortified "protective rations" to children aged 6 to 23 months with 200g of SuperCereal Plus and to Pregnant and Lactating Women with 200g of SuperCereal and 15g of vegetable oil. WFP combines blanket supplementary feeding activities with general distributions targeting IDPs with a food basket comprised of cereals, pulses and vegetable oil. This reduces the risk of stunting among children, as well as the risks of further aggravating the nutritional situation of women in times of vulnerability.

Context

The security situation in Burkina Faso has been rapidly deteriorating, and the number of violent attacks is spiraling. Security incidents reported during the first four months of 2019 equated the number of incidents registered over the entire year in 2018 and the situation is continuing to deteriorate. This radical change in the country’s situation results from the expansion of unidentified non-state armed individuals (UNSAI) and an intensification of their activities that have particularly increased over the past six months with frequent attacks as well as targeted kidnappings and assassinations. The increased presence of UNSAI who try to take advantage of existing intercommunal tensions and the government response to their attacks have contributed to an increased stigmatization of certain ethnic (Peulh, Mossi) and social groups (self-defense groups). This unprecedented level of violence causes increasing displacements covering an expanding geographical area. Previously restricted to two regions (Sahel and Centre-Nord), internal displacements of populations are observed in all 13 regions of the country with a total of eight regions counting more than 1,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) (Sahel, Centre-Nord, Nord, Boucle-du-Mouhoun, East, and Plateau Central, Centre and Centre Sud). The Government of Burkina Faso declared the state of emergency in 6 regions and 14 provinces.

As of 26 September 2019, 486,000 people have officially been displaced. Persisting insecurity also means that people cannot return to their homes, increasing the pressure on a growing number of host communities. Essential health and social services are no longer available in numerous areas and protection issues are of high concern, especially for children and women. The unavailability of healthcare workers and medicines has led to the closure or limited services of health centres impacting the number of admissions of malnourished children.

The number of food insecure people was estimated at 688,000 during the 2019 lean season (June-September) [March 2019 Cadre Harmonisé], but this figure is likely to be higher now in view of the rapidly deteriorating security situation. All current trends point towards a further deterioration of the nutritional situation of populations in Burkina Faso, with an expected deterioration already in the coming months. This is expected to have an impact on the planting season, transhumance, markets and livelihoods, and as a result on the number of food insecure people