WFP Zambia Country Brief, September 2020
In Numbers
USD 72,912 six months (October 2020-March 2021) net funding requirements
219,870 people assisted in September 2020
Operational Updates
Following a WFP rapid food security assessment conducted in Livingstone and Kitwe districts in July and August, WFP commenced preparatory works to expand its COVID-19 cash assistance into the two districts. During the month, WFP carried out inception visits to Livingstone to introduce the programme to the district stakeholders and to appreciate the operational context, with similar exercise scheduled for Kitwe district in October. The assessment revealed that some 131,300 people living in high density and low-income urban areas of Livingstone and Kitwe are food insecure and in need of humanitarian assistance due to the impacts of COVID-19. Overall, WFP is targeting some 322,000 people in four districts (Lusaka, Kitwe, Kafue and Livingstone), with 181,555 people already assisted in Lusaka and Kafue so far. In addition to the 181,555 people it assisted under its COVID-19 response, WFP also provided assistance to 14,000 refugees and 24,315 Zambians under the integrated smallholder and nutrition support initiatives, bringing the total to 219,870 people assisted in September.
In preparation for the 2020 Long Lasting Insecticide-Treated Nets (LLINs) mass distribution campaign under the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), WFP and the Ministry of Health (MoH) jointly facilitated the training of trainers (ToTs) for 126 district health officials (environmental technicians, stores officers and Malaria focal points) in Copperbelt, Central and North Western provinces. The targeted staff were trained in logistics and warehousing management of LLINs. Due to its expertise in logistics support services, WFP has been one of government’s logistics partners in the implementation of LLINs mass distribution campaigns since 2014. The district level ToT workshop followed a national level training facilitated by WFP in June, which targeted 25 MoH staff.
In September, WFP collaborated with the Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) and the Zambia Commodity Exchange (ZAMACE) to train 40 staff from the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), implementing partners and selected intermediary aggregators on the Warehouse Receipt System (WRS). The WRS is an instrument that helps farmers, small- and medium-sized enterprises and exporters to store their agricultural produce in a certified warehouse and receive a warehouse receipt which they can use to access market and credit, jointly managed by LuSE and ZAMACE. In the coming months, the participants will cascade the training to field staff who will in turn begin to generate WRS awareness among smallholder farmers to enhance their access to diversified commodity markets through this platform.
WFP also facilitated the training of 21 staff from the MoA and the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services (MCDSS) on the Savings for Change model to enable them to facilitate the formation and management of saving groups among smallholder farmers. Through the savings groups, WFP will enhance smallholders’ financial inclusion to help them diversify their livelihoods and increase their agricultural investment.