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WFP Democratic Republic of the Congo April Situation Report #36 - 12 May 2022

Countries
DR Congo
Sources
WFP
Publication date

Headline

  • Southern Africa Leadership Meeting: Country Directors (CDs) from across the Southern Africa region and senior leaders from the Regional Bureau of Johannesburg (RBJ) and headquarters gathered in Kinshasa for the RBJ leadership meeting from 6 to 10 April. The conference theme was “Looking forward beyond crisis: positioning ourselves for meaningful strategic engagement”. The First Lady, the Minister for Rural Development, the Minister for Planning, and the Vice-Minister for Education gave speeches. Participants examined opportunities for working with governments and regional bodies and reflected on WFP’s transition from humanitarian to development assistance.

Situation Update

  • Mission to N’sele: WFP, UNICEF and FAO took the Fonds Social de la RDC and the World Bank to visit the joint social protection project in N’sele. The project has operated since March 2020 to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 in N’sele, a town on the outskirts of Kinshasa. The delegation shared lessons learned between WFP’s project and the Fonds Social and World Bank’s social protection project. The delegation participated in a focus group discussion with 11 beneficiaries.

  • Joint Steering Committee of the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF): The CD, Peter Musoko, attended the PBF committee meeting which is jointly chaired by the DRC Minister for Planning and the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (DSRSG).

  • USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Affairs (BHA) donor mission: WFP and BHA visited Tshikapa from 18 to 24 April. The delegation attended food and nutrition distributions and met beneficiaries under WFP’s household-level targeting and ration size pilot in the Kasai. BHA provided positive feedback and some recommendations. Subsequently, an action plan was agreed for implementation.

  • Norwegian donor mission: In the week commencing 25 April, WFP Deputy Country Director (DCD) Natasha Nadazdin accompanied the Norwegian ambassador and their delegation to the Norwegian-funded resilience project in Tanganyika and WFP’s school feeding activities in Goma. The deputy ambassador interviewed with Radio Okapi, noting his appreciation for WFP’s school meals programme in facilitating access to schools.

  • SDG research team interview: On 19 April, Country Director Peter Musoko was interviewed by a research team led by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Special Advocate for the SDGs. The Special Advocate will visit DRC to determine the country’s progress towards the SDGs at President Tshisekedi’s request.

  • African Union Ambassador meeting: On 27 April, the CD met the African Union Ambassador to DRC, H.E. Michelle Ndiaye, to discuss home-grown school feeding, south-south cooperation, and plans for Africa Day on 25 May.

  • Ebola outbreak: Since 23 April, WFP, UNHAS and the LogCluster have responded to the Equateur Ebola outbreak through logistical assistance to the humanitarian community.
    WFP are monitoring developments to prepare further responses if needed.