WFP Zambia Country Brief, June 2020
In Numbers
566.44 mt of food assistance distributed
USD 16.48 m six months (July-December 2020) net funding requirements.
65,620 people assisted in June 2020
Operational Updates
As part of preparatory works for WFP’s cash-based transfers (CBT) for urban populations planned to start in July, WFP conducted a rapid food security and vulnerability impact assessment from 08-18 June 2020, targeting 1,500 households in the two urban districts of Lusaka and Kafue. The aim was to ascertain the extent to which main livelihood strategies have been impacted by COVID-19. Preliminary findings indicate that the livelihoods of people in the informal sector and households with pre-existing vulnerabilities (i.e. households headed by the elderly, people with disabilities, and women-headed households) were the worst impacted. The pandemic also affected the quality, quantity and diversity of meals accessed and consumed in the households, with over 243,000 people in the two districts found to be food insecure and in need of assistance.
In June, WFP developed sensitization and nutrition messages that will accompany CBT in urban areas, with the objective to promote the choice and consumption of nutritious and diverse food to ensure healthy and balanced diets.
As part of the 85,000 mt of maize that WFP will export for its humanitarian operations in the region, WFP started exporting 20,500 mt of maize to Zimbabwe in June, in support of relief efforts in the country. By 30 June, 2,900 mt had been exported.
In June, WFP concluded its response in support of drought-affected people, which started in December 2019 after the 2018/19 drought left 2.3 million people in 58 districts food insecure and in need of humanitarian assistance. By the end of the drought response, WFP reached 648,833 people in 16 districts out of some 625,000 targeted, delivering 3,400 mt of government-supplied maize meal and distributing 5,500 mt of WFP-procured pulses.
WFP continued to provide cash assistance to 1,518 refugees in the Mantapala Refugee Settlement, distributing a total of USD 11,400. Each refugee received USD 7.35, equivalent to the value of a food basket. WFP continued to distribute food to the remaining refugees, reaching 12,261 refugees in June. In June, WFP also facilitated the registration of additional refugees to scale up cash assistance to reach 5,000 people by July 2020. At the same time, WFP intensified nutrition messaging to promote the choice and consumption of nutritious food for a balanced diet. To mitigate malnutrition in the settlement, WFP and Care International rolled out a six-week intensive nutrition education programme, targeting mothers of 106 malnourished children.