The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has received a £4.5 million contribution from the Government of the United Kingdom to provide cash assistance to people facing severe hunger in Malawi.
The contribution, made through the Promoting Sustainable Partnerships for Empowered Resilience (PROSPER) programme’s Crisis Modifier allocation for emergencies, will be used to contribute to the ongoing 2020/2021 Food Insecurity Lean Season Response by providing cash transfers to an estimated 540,000 vulnerable people.
The Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC), a government-led grouping tasked with providing timely early warning information on hunger, forecasts that 2.6 million people, nearly 15 percent of the population, will face acute food insecurity during the upcoming lean season.
“WFP is grateful for the UK’s support, and this funding will help us reach some of the country’s most vulnerable people, who risk slipping further into hunger,” said Benoit Thiry, WFP Malawi Country Director. “The contribution comes at a crucial time and will enable us gear up our support to the Government’s response.”
“The increasing risk of climatic shocks to poor, rural households worsens a vicious cycle of food insecurity,” says Martin Dawson, Development Director for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in Malawi. “The UK Government has partnered with WFP to help vulnerable households mitigate, manage and recover from the impacts of these shocks.”
Thanks to the support of the UK, WFP is supporting the Government of Malawi through a range of activities, including emergency cash responses leveraging the social protection system, malnutrition prevention as well as building resilience to the impacts of climate change.
Original source: WFP
