In Numbers
6.135 mt food assistance distributed
US$ 1.26 million cash-based transfers made
US$ 405,906 six-month (May – October 2021) net funding requirements
145,938 people assisted in APRIL 2021
Operational Updates
In April, WFP disbursed ZMW 24.7 million (about USD 1.1 million) to 74,830 beneficiaries (14,966 households) under the COVID-19 emergency cash assistance programme. From July 2020 to April 2021, WFP and the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services (MCDSS) implemented the COVID-19 response, targeting 322,000 vulnerable urban people (64,415 households) impacted by COVID-19 in six urban districts (Chilanga, Kafue, Kalulushi, Kitwe, Livingstone and Lusaka). April marked the end of the response, with a total of ZMW 148.7 million (USD 7.8 million) disbursed to 312,000 people in 62,400 households (97 percent of the target). Each household received a total of ZMW 2,400 (USD 73), translating to ZMW 400 (USD 18) per month, to help them meet their food and nutrition needs for a total of six months.
From 27-29 April, WFP participated in the National Nutrition Conference organized by the National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC) and the Scaling Up Nutrition Technical Assistance (SUN TA) Project. During the conference, WFP and NFNC disseminated the findings of the Fill the Nutrient Gap analysis (FNG) to around 100 participants from the Government, United Nations agencies, NGOs, donors and other stakeholders in the nutrition sector. WFP and the NFNC launched the FNG in 2020 to identify barriers vulnerable populations face in accessing and consuming healthy and nutritious foods and to recommend strategies for addressing the identified barriers.
WFP rolled out the Virtual Farmers Market (VFM) application to 110 intermediary aggregators in 28 districts of Central,
Eastern, Southern, Muchinga, Lusaka and Western provinces. The VFM, an e-commerce digital platform that enables farmers and buyers to exchange market information and trade surplus commodities, was rolled out in partnership with Digital PayGO – a locally contracted financial service provider. WFP also facilitated the training of 49 staff from the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and United Nations Development Programme on the use of the application. Smallholder farmers and commodity buyers can now download/access the app through online play stores or Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code *277# on local mobile network providers, MTN and ZAMTEL. Nearly 400 traders and smallholder farmers have already accessed the app. During the rollout, WFP facilitated networking sessions involving intermediary aggregators, financial institutions (banks), and off-takers of agricultural produce to enhance trade with the smallholders through the aggregation network. In preparation for the 2021/22 crop marketing season starting in June, WFP contracted 35 intermediary aggregators in six provinces (Southern, Eastern, Central, Luapula, Northern and Muchinga) to supply 2,000 mt of pulses purchased from smallholder farmers. This is part of WFP’s effort to empower smallholders by buying commodities from them through the Global Commodity Management Facility, an internal mechanism for procuring and pre-positioning food stock.
Capacity strengthening is a key component of WFP’s interventions in Zambia. In April, WFP facilitated the Training of Trainers (ToTs) for 124 staff from the MoA, MCDSS, and the cooperating partners (Care International and iDE) from 16 districts in seven provinces (Eastern, Luapula, Lusaka, Muchinga, North-western, Southern and Western). The training aimed to strengthen the capacities of the partners’ staff in implementing savings for change and post-harvest management activities under the second phase of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN II) intervention implemented in 17 districts across Zambia. The trained staff will cascade the savings for change and post-harvest management trainings to smallholder farmers, producer groups, camp extension staff, and other targeted community members.
Nutrition education and enhanced vegetable production are some of the ways WFP uses to support national efforts in diversifying school meals for improved education and nutrition outcomes among schoolchildren. During the month,
WFP and the Ministry of General Education (MoGE) trained 50 school hydroponics focal persons and members of parentteacher committees in crop management and pest control to build their capacities in effective management of hydroponics gardens installed at three schools (Gwembe, Hauma and Luumbo primary schools) in Gwembe District. WFP also conducted district-level ToTs for 20 staff from MoA, MoGE and the cooperating partner, Self Help Africa, in the district. In 2021, WFP is supporting MoGE to install 24 hydroponics systems in 24 schools in Gwembe and Shang’ombo districts as part of its early recovery interventions in districts affected by the droughts during the 2018/2019 farming season.
Source: World Food Programme