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WFP Zambia Country Brief, September 2021

Countries
Zambia
+ 1 more
Sources
WFP
Publication date

In Numbers

4.223 mt food distributed

US$ 199,160 cash-based transfers made

US$ 413,129 six-month (October 2021 – March 2022) net funding requirements

93,520 people assisted in September 2021

Operational Updates

WFP continued to implement an integrated package of humanitarian and development interventions in Zambia, reaching 93,520 people in September. Among the assisted, WFP reached 17,704 refugees and asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with food and cash assistance; 22,041 people through nutrition support interventions; and 53,775 smallholder farmers through early recovery and resilience strengthening interventions.

The number of DRC refugees and asylum seekers at the WFPsupported Mantapala Refugee Settlement continued to increase, reaching 18,000 people by the end of the month. The increases are due to new births, new arrivals entering Zambia through undesignated routes, and those returning from seeking alternative livelihood opportunities outside the settlement. In the last one year, the population has increased by 18 percent. The trend will likely lead to increased needs, which may surpass available resources.

Working with other nutrition partners, WFP continued to promote good nutrition for children below the age of 5 years as well as pregnant and lactating women and adolescents. In September, 21 cooking demonstrations were conducted in the three districts (Chisamba, Chibombo and Kapiri-Mposhi) to promote good cooking practices using locally available foods, reaching 45 pregnant women, 226 lactating mothers and 51 adolescents. In addition, 271 mothers took their children for malnutrition screening, with a total of 686 children screened during the month.

Strengthening resilience and economically empowering women remain among WFP’s priorities in its Country Strategic Plan (2019-2024). As part of this, WFP continued to roll out trainings in post-harvest loss (PHL) management and savings for change (SfC). Seventeen district staff were trained in PHL management in Choma District, and 43 staff including community development assistants were trained in SfC model in Choma and Monze districts. The trained district staff cascaded the trainings in PHL management to 250 lead farmers, while 150 animators were trained in the SfC model in Choma District. Meanwhile, WFP facilitated the training of 421 smallholder farmers (160 men and 261 women) in food preservation and processing in Monze District. This was part of efforts to enhance nutrition security among the smallholders by strengthening their capacities in processing and preserving foods to maintain nutrition content, prolong shelf-life, and make them available during the lean season.
Through the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute, WFP facilitated a training of trainers for 28 district technical staff of the Ministry of Agriculture district and cooperating partners to build their capacities in the production of drought-tolerant crops including cowpeas, groundnuts, sorghum, cassava and orange maize. The training was held from 29 September to 1 October 2021 in Livingstone, with staff drawn from 11 districts (Chikankata, Choma, Gwembe, Kaoma, Mazabuka, Mongu, Monze, Namwala, Pemba, Shangombo and Sioma). The trained staff will in turn lead the training of camp extension officers and farmers to enhance adoption of drought tolerant and nutrient dense crops among smallholder farmers for increased food and nutrition security in the face of climate change. During the training, three companies that produce and distribute crop seed created awareness on available drought tolerant crops.

WFP has continued to support the Ministry of General Education in implementing the national Home-Grown School Meals (HGSM) programme. With technical support from WFP, the Ministry developed a diet diversification plan for the programme to enable schools to locally procure and provide nutritious meals to school children. The plan will be implemented in over 4,300 schools in 59 districts, with 1.6 million school children expected to benefit.