Emergency Food Assistance in Burma - World Food Programme 2013

October 2013 – Burma experiences frequent natural disasters such as cyclones floods drought and earthquakes and there has also been decades of low-intensity conflict between the Burmese army and the minority ethnic independence movements. The ongoing conflict and the regularly occurring natural disasters have created a challenging humanitarian situation in Burma. More than 650 000 people are internally displaced having been forced to move away from their homes due to conflict and more than 350 000 Burmese refugees are living in neighbouring countries. With DFATD’s support the United Nations World Food Programme’s (WFP) 2013 operation in Burma aim to provide emergency food assistance to an estimated 1 570 000 conflict-affected people who are food insecure or do not have access to safe sufficient and nutritious food and who have been displaced from their homes. WFP’s main programming areas in humanitarian contexts are to provide food assistance to address acute malnutrition and food insecurity and to protect people’s ability to earn a living. Some project activities include: (1) distributing food assistance; (2) providing nutrition support for children under the age of five pregnant and lactating women and people living with tuberculosis or HIV/AIDS who are on anti-retroviral therapy; (3) providing post-disaster support to help people recover such as food-for-work initiatives; and (4) establishing school feeding.

The expected outputs for this project include: (1) food assistance is provided to 295 000 people through designated distribution sites; (2) supplementary feeding and nutritious supplementary foods are provided to 99 000 children and pregnant/lactating women and 23 000 people with HIV/AIDS or tuberculosis; (3) school meals or take-home rations are provided to 1 402 000 children; and (4) food-for-work and cash-for-assets opportunities are provided to 509 000 people. The expected intermediate outcome is reduced vulnerability of crisis-affected people especially women and children.