In Numbers
655.3 mt of food distributed
USD 147,050 cash-based transfers made
USD 4 M six months (Nov. 2022 – Apr. 2023) net funding requirements
40,355 people assisted in October 2022
Operational Updates
• In October, WFP provided food and nutrition assistance to 40,355 people, including refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable households in rural and urban areas through unconditional in-kind food assistance and cash-based transfers (CBT).
Drought Response:
• Approximately 194,000 people are facing food insecurity (IPC phases 3, 4&5) in Djibouti; an increase of 56 percent since February. WFP assisted 13,582 beneficiaries in September through in-kind food assistance in the regions of Tadjourah, Arta, Obock, Dikhil and Ali Sabieh. The number of beneficiaries increased by 5,500 due to the addition of regions of Dikhil and Obock. Through contributions from UN CERF, WFP also provided blanket supplementary feeding to children between 6-59 months, pregnant and breast-feeding women in three regions, which are Ali Sabieh, Arta and Tadjourah.
Assistance to refugees and asylum seekers:
• WFP provided food and nutrition assistance to 23,517 refugees in all three refugee settlements in Djibouti. Markazi is facing an influx of newly arrived asylum seekers from Yemen and Eritrea. The overall number of refugees and asylum seekers benefiting from WFP food assistance has increased by 1,502 due to the ongoing UNHCR verification exercise.
• WFP in collaboration with IOM continued to provide hot meals to 300 migrants in the Migration Response Centre (MRC) in Obock.
• In Djibouti Ville, 300 families affected by HIV received food assistance through e-vouchers, valued at DJF 10,000 (USD 56), to cover their basic food security and nutrition needs.
COVID-19 response:
• In collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Solidarity (MASS), WFP provided food assistance through e-vouchers worth DJF 10,000 (USD 56) to 2,500 people affected by the impact of COVID 19 in Djibouti City.
Social protection:
• WFP is supporting the MASS to strengthen the national social protection systems. WFP supported in the evaluation of the National Social Protection strategy (2018-2022) and will assist in the development of the forthcoming strategy for 2023-2026.
Forecast-based Financing:
• Two anticipatory actions (AAs) could be activated in the eastern regions of the country. The two AAs are improved food security through CBT to prevent further deterioration and prevention of chronic and acute malnutrition through in-kind food assistance. Theses AAs target the most vulnerable population in Obock, Tadjourah, Ali Sabieh and Dikhil.
WFP is exploring internal funding mechanisms to be able to deliver on these anticipatory actions. WFP initiated the second phase of the collaboration with Columbia university on drought forecasting and triggers. WFP is exploring a partnership with Djibouti Meteorological Service on data-sharing efficiency on climate.
Food assistance for assets:
• WFP in partnership with FAO is supporting farmers to optimize agricultural gardens to address the immediate food needs of most food-insecure people while improving their long-term food security and resilience. A total of 156 participants from the five regions of Tadjourah,
Arta, Dikhil, Obock and Ali Sabieh are working to improve agricultural production and received cash-based transfers from WFP. Participants are provided with agricultural training and material by FAO. As a result of taking part in the food production programme, participants receive an incentive in the form of cash from WFP. The fifth distribution cycle was carried out on 15 October 2022.
Monitoring:
• The M&E Unit issued the first draft of Food for Assets baseline report. It was reported that at the beginning of the project in January 2022, agriculture and (occasional work were the main sources of targeted household income in this project. Regarding food consumption score, 52 percent of households are on the acceptable level, 20 percent of households are on borderline and 27 percent are poor. Households used three food-coping strategies: eating less preferred foods (43 percent), borrowing food from friends or relatives (29 percent) and reducing the portion of food (24 percent). As for livelihood-based coping strategies, borrowing money (40 percent) is the most preferred option. In 62 percent of the households, decision-making on the use of household resources is made jointly by the couple.
• The inflation rate was +6.1percent for September compared to last year mainly driven by the increased prices of sugar by 16.5 percent and potatoes and bananas by 7.8 percent. This increase was, however, mitigated by the drop in prices of beef by 5.7 percent, fresh fish by 3.9 percent and bread by 2.6 percent. In the rural regions, prices increased by 17 percent for wheat flour in Ali Sabieh and by 10-40 percent for sugar in all regions. Compared to last year, prices of vegetable oil and sugar increased by more than 50 percent and that of cereals 7-23 percent in rural regions.
Supply Chain:
• By the end of the month, DJCO’s food basket representing 655.3 MT of various food commodities was dispatched and distributed to its co-operating partners across the country.
• On the Djibouti corridor, 55,804 mt of wheat was dispatched with 1,383 trucks from the ports’ silos. 116 containers of CSB++ were received and will be exported to Yemen. About 4,120 mt of wheat was dispatched to Ethiopia with 103 trucks.
Source: World Food Programme