PRESS RELEASE

Organization joins WFP and UNICEF in joint resilience strategy

05 December 2012, Nairobi– The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is appealing for US$443 million for the next three years to continue helping the population move forward following the famine in Somalia, which officially ended earlier this year.

In 2011, a combination of years of conflict, drought and high food prices drove over 4 million people, half of Somalia’s population into acute food insecurity leaving tens of thousands dead, especially children under five. Tens of thousands died, especially children under five.

Although 2.12 million Somalis are still in crisis, the country is on the path to recovery. Working with national and international partners, FAO’s aid strategy is to help farmers and herders rebuild long-term resilience.

“Food security is a long-term process and that is why we are emphasizing long term planning under the Consolidated Appeal Process 2013-15, ” said Luca Alinovi, FAO representative for Somalia. FAO is seeking $375 million and a separate $68 million for the next three years, he said.

“This move aims at sustaining the momentum in order not only to avoid a repeat of last year’s famine but also adequately to prepare communities in the most drought-prone zones to be able to face future crises with little help,” he added.

Strengthening communities

Alinovi said FAO would pay special attention to helping agricultural and pastoral communities cope with recurrent drought, which led to the 2011 crisis. The aid delivered by FAO during the recent famine to more than a million people was in the form of cash-based interventions that helped vulnerable communities to immediately buy food, which, together with agricultural inputs and livestock health services, allowed people to remain in their homes.

Fertilizers and improved seeds were distributed in a move that enabled farmers in the regions of Bay and Shabelle to more than doubletheir production of maize and sorghum last year.

Adequate and timely funding also permitted FAO to roll out treatment and mass vaccination campaigns against diseases endemic to Somalia that threaten the herds. At least 14 million livestock were vaccinated against Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR). PPR is an acute highly contagious viral disease of sheep and goats, characterized by fever, erosive stomatitis, enteritis, pneumonia, and death.

FAO, UNICEF and WFP have adopted a Joint Resilience Strategy to prioritize household/community resilience within their programmes.

The Strategy calls for a paradigm shift to promote concerted actions to help affected Somali society cope with crises on the basis of community-based initiatives.

“We are working together to place a greater emphasis on the reduction and management of shocks and enhanced investments in building productive, human, social, natural and financial resources within households and communities, recognizing the different roles, capacities and needs of women and men, girls and boys,” said Sikander Khan, the Representative for UNICEF Somalia. The focus on resilience bridges humanitarian and development programming to better address overlapping risks and stresses.

Helping the displaced return home

Crises at household level often deteriorate fast when families lose their only assets. FAO’s Cash in return for work, as well as the provision of improved seeds for the next harvest, is aimed at helping to reduce the number of refugees and cut a growing dependency on aid. Crises at household level often deteriorate fast when families lose their only assets and are at risk of starvation.

“FAO is working together with the UN refugee agency to restore the agriculture-based livelihoods of people affected by the viciouscycle of the crisis by designing a resettlement package that helps them to return to their homes while ensuring they can cope with future shocks,” said Alinovi.

In its initial stages, the programme is targeting 42 000 people currently displaced around Somalia. They will be provided with agricultural kits (e.g. rice, maize and vegetable seeds, fertilizers and farming tools) and taught how to use them. Additional support will be channeled through unconditional cash transfers for the poorest families, as well as cash-for-work opportunities. FAO will also help to strengthen animal husbandry, agroprocessing and marketing, focusing on youth and households headed by women.

Emphasis will also be placed on better coordination of nutrition and food security interventions and strengthening the technical capacity of partners in the sector.  Early warning and analysis tools – such as the Integrated Food Security and Humanitarian Phase Classification and Dynamic Atlas surveys – will be used to strengthen analysis of needs, including comprehensive information focusing on gender.

Source:- FOA 

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