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WFP Madagascar Resourcing Alert - October 2018

Countries
Madagascar
Sources
WFP
Publication date

WFP urgently requires USD 43.6 million to provide food and nutritional support to 849,000 food insecure people in IPC 4 (emergency) IPC 3 (crisis) phases in southern Madagascar until June 2019, and USD 6 million to assist 197,043 school children during the 2018-2019 school year.

With a score of 38.3 on the 2017 Global Hunger Index, Madagascar is among the eight countries suffering from alarming rates of hunger. In support to the Government of Madagascar, WFP’s interventions aim at providing food and nutritional support to disaster affected communities and strengthening their resilience to future shocks.

The southern regions have been suffering from the impacts of the El Nino induced drought that affected Southern Africa in 2015/2016. Due to a prolonged dry spell since the beginning of 2018, communities have lost the majority of their crops expected during the May/June harvest season.

WFP’s Response Plan to the drought in the south In coordination with the Government of Madagascar and the humanitarian community, WFP’s response plan will focus on providing food and nutritional assistance to the populations that are classified in IPC crisis and in emergency phases from September - December 2018 (relief phase) and January to March 2018 (early recovery phase). Out of 1.3 million people classified in IPC crisis (3) and emergency (4) phases, WFP aims to provide food assistance and nutritional support to 849,000 people using a combination of food and cash-based modalities. It is expected that other actors in the food security sector (government and NGOs) will provide assistance to 35% of the population in IPC 3 and 4 phases. During both response phases, WFP will work closely with FAO and other food security and livelihoods cluster members to ensure that the assistance provided is complementary.

Without new confirmed contributions, WFP will not be able to meet the needs of food insecure communities in IPC 3 and 4 phases, risking a deterioration in food security for the already vulnerable communities, many of which are still recovering from the impacts of the 2015/2016 El Nino induced drought.

Emergency Food Assistance and Nutritional Support

To provide life-saving, early recovery food assistance, and nutritional support to 849,000 food insecure people, WFP appeals to donors for immediate support towards Strategic Outcome 1 (relief assistance and early recovery) which require USD 43.6 million from September 2018– June 2019.

Nutrition Prevention Activities

For implementing nutrition prevention activities in the south, WFP requires USD 4.8 million from September 2018-June 2019. As part of the prevention of acute malnutrition programme, WFP will distribute specialized nutritious foods to 83,600 children 6-23 months and 41,800 pregnant and lactating women on a monthly basis, accompanied by nutritional education and malnutrition screenings. For the prevention of chronic malnutrition component implemented in 2 districts of the south jointly with WHO, UNFPA and FAO, WFP aims to reach 85,600 children below 2 years of age and PLW/G until June 2019.

School Meals Interventions

In southern Madagascar, school meals are often the only regular meal that school children receive. A disruption of the programme would lead to an increase of school dropouts and to a deterioration of children’s nutritional status. The cost of the WFPsupported school meals programme is estimated at USD 30 per child per school year. The funding shortfall for the 2018-2019 school year stands at USD 6 million to provide support to 197,047 schoolchildren.

Resilience strengthening

WFP is targeting 4 communes in the southern, southeastern and south-western regions to strengthen communities’ resilience to future shocks. For the implementation of resilience activities, WFP faces a funding shortfall of USD 8.2 million to assist 400,000 people through resilience strengthening. WFP aims to implement a long-term resilience strategy to reduce the exposure to shocks among vulnerable populations and reduce the need for humanitarian assistance.