ReliefWeb

What is FFA?

The most food-insecure people often live in fragile and degraded landscapes and areas prone to recurrent natural shocks and other risks.

Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) is one of WFP’s flagship initiatives aimed at addressing the most food-insecure people’s immediate food needs with cash, voucher or food transfers while also helping improve their long-term food security and resilience.

The concept is simple: people receive cash or food-based transfers to address their immediate food needs, while they build or boost assets, such as constructing a road or rehabilitating degraded land, that will improve their livelihoods by creating healthier natural environments, reducing risks and impact of shocks, increasing food productivity, and strengthening resilience to natural disasters.

FFA Types of Activities

• Development and management of natural resources;

• Restoring agricultural, pastoral, and fisheries potential;

• Community access to markets, social services and infrastructure (schools, granaries, etc.);

• Skills development trainings related to the creation, management and maintenance of assets.

In each community, WFP aims to integrate multiple types of FFA activities with Government strategies and other WFP and partners’ interventions (including UN partners FAO and IFAD) to reinforce each other’s impact.

2017 achievements in the region

In 2017, more than 1.5 million people directly benefited from FFA programmes in 9 countries.

Key 2017 achievements include:

• 17,500 hectares of land rehabilitated;

• 520 water ponds, shallow wells, and fish ponds built;

• 3,110 kilometres of feeder roads constructed or repaired;

• 1,100 hectares of forest planted;

• 30,110 people trained in livelihood technologies.