ReliefWeb

In Numbers

In August 2021, WFP assisted 463,573 beneficiaries with in-kind food assistance and 213,320 beneficiaries through cash transfer in the 9 drought-affected southern Madagascar districts.

With the beginning of the lean season, WFP is operating according to a scaled-up implementation plan for its emergency response in southern Madagascar whereby the organization plans to reach 687,000 people in IPC 3+, including around 370,000 people in IPC 4 and 5 who will be provided with full rations from September to November 2021. This is a key step forward as WFP and the other food security and nutrition actors had so far only managed to provide a half ration (due to financial constraints) with the exception of the 14,000 people in IPC 5 who have been given a full ration since June 2021.

For the December 2021-April 2022 period, WFP intends to gradually reach 1,016,000 people in IPC 3, 4 and 5 with full rations based on its revised needs-based plan. This scale-up is designed to address overall response gaps recently identified during consultations with food security and nutrition actors involved in the south.

Key Highlights

WFP’s Director of Emergencies and the Regional Director for Southern Africa visited Madagascar on 16-21 August to enhance WFP collaboration with the Government on the food insecurity crisis. The directors travelled to the Great South and met with local authorities and communities to discuss the ongoing response and durable solutions to mitigate the adverse impact of the cyclical drought situation. In Antananarivo, the team met with the Minister of Water and the Vice-Minister of Agriculture to discuss the crisis and ongoing response. Other meetings with partners and the UN Country Team were also held. The mission called for increased support as the dire food crisis is expected to further deteriorate in the months ahead. Both directors particularly highlighted the need to combine emergency food assistance with integrated resilience activities at the same time so that affected communities can withstand similar climate related shocks next year.

WFP has started the process of registering beneficiaries on SCOPE, the organization’s digital beneficiary information and transfer management platform, in the districts of Ambovombe and Amboasary. Among various advantages, SCOPE allows for (i) enhanced assurance that the intended benefit has been given to the right person and (ii) the secure management of data so that each person’s data is further protected.

At least 500,000 children under five years of age are expected to be acutely malnourished through April 2022 in southern Madagascar, including 110,000 severely malnourished requiring urgent lifesaving assistance, according to the latest IPC Acute Malnutrition analysis conducted in ten districts in the Grand Sud.