ReliefWeb

In Numbers

US$ 0.63 m six months (May – October 2020) net funding requirements.

Operational Updates

• The first shipment of relief items arrived at Dili International Port on April 21, 2020. This comprised of four complete sets of prefabricated buildings and air conditioners to be used for temporary quarantine and isolation centres from the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) Subang, Malaysia. WFP will donate the items to the Government as part of support to the Government National Response Plan under the COVID-19 Integrated Crisis Management Center. WFP is coordinating with the Shanghai Construction Group in Timor Leste to support its installation.

• WFP has set-up ten hand washing facilities in key public places including the Dili International Airport and marketplaces. WFP has also collaborated with the World Health Organization (WHO) to support the Ministry of Health in printing information, education and communication (IEC) materials to raise COVID19 health awareness in communities.

• With technical support from WFP, the Government is purchasing a three-month emergency supply (30,000 mt) of rice from Vietnam to offset potential shortages during the pandemic. WFP will continue to provide technical assistance on food storage, delivery, distribution, and monitoring of the Government’s food assistance programme, depending on the future food security situation and remaining gaps.
WFP is also examing contingency plans for emergency food assistance covering two months of rice consumption needs for 660,000 vulnerable people.

• WFP is working with the Ministry of Health to scale up existing responses, namely the targeted supplementary feeding programme to improve nutrient intake for children under 5, and pregnant & lactating women, as planned under the Country Strategy Plan (CSP).

• WFP is collaborating with the Ministry of Education Youth and Sports (MoEYS) with plans to deliver a nutritious take-home food basket to students and their families. These will be delivered during the school closure imposed by the state of emergency, or as an incentive to bring students back to school post closure, or both.

• WFP plans to donate ten units of laptops, two motorbikes, and one vehicle to the national logistics centre to strengthen their supply chain system.