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WFP Uganda Country Brief, February 2017

Countries
Uganda
+ 1 more
Sources
WFP
Publication date

Highlights

  • WFP is providing food assistance to newly arrived refugees in the recently opened Imvepi Refugee Settlement.

  • The refugee operation in Uganda now costs WFP USD 15 million a month, which is more than double the pre-July 2016 figure.

  • A total of 11,000 small-scale farmers were trained on farming and grain aggregation.

Operational Updates

Refugees

  • WFP is on the ground in Imvepi Refugee Settlement responding to the South Sudanese refugee influx with daily hot meals, daily resettlement rations and Plumpy‘Sup, a fortified ready-to-eat peanut paste provided to children who are suffering from moderate acute malnutrition.

  • In February, WFP assisted 740,000 refugees in 12 settlements and four transit centres. Of these, 150,000 refugees were assisted with cash-based transfers.

  • The refugee operation in Uganda now costs WFP USD 15 million a month, which is more than double the pre-July 2016 figure. The country office needs USD 76.5 million for the next six months (March to August 2017) to be able to provide adequate life-saving support to refugees.

Karamoja

  • Phase 2 of the WFP-supported Government of Uganda Single Registry exercise began in February in Napak District in Karamoja. The partners are aiming to complete the census-style registration exercise in all seven sub-counties of the district in March 2017. By the end of February 27,471 households and 147,016 individuals had been registered in the system, which is intended to facilitate effective implementation of social protection programmes by partners in Karamoja, including the Government and WFP.

National public works guidelines

  • As an outcome of WFP’s capacity building support to the Government, the national guidelines to streamline and standardize labour-intensive public works in the country were launched on 28 February. “Public works” refers to any government or agency-financed activity involving mass labour for projects that are undertaken for the public good. Labour-intensive public works refers specifically to works that are undertaken by predominantly unskilled people who are seeking employment. These people are paid cash as a form of direct income support. Public works is a key component in the Third Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF 3).

Support to Small-Scale Farmers

  • A total of 11,000 small scale farmers in Uganda, 75 percent of them female, underwent training to enhance their capacity to access quality grain markets. The trainings focused on good agronomic practices in preparation for the March–June long rainy season, and aggregation of produce for the market.
    The trainings were conducted by NGO partners of WFP.

  • A total of 2,300 small-scale farmers who were trained in 2016 on post-harvest loss reduction received subsidized grain storage equipment. WFP’s support is intended to build the capacity of small-scale farmers to provide quality grain to markets such as WFP.