an assessment of the world food program

8/9/2019 An Assessment of the World Food Program

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An Assessment of the

World Food Program-CaseStudy of Somalia What we ask of the developed countries is to let the Third World find a third way. Ferdinand Marcos

Mark Elom Tuani January, 2015
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World Food Program-A case study of Somalia Mark Elom Tuani, 2015

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SECTION ONE

Introduction and History

Hunger is a term is explained by the Oxford dictionary as the want or scarcity of food in a

country. Despite the billions of tax payer dollars expended on foreign development aid and

the launch of high-profile initiatives such as the Millennium Development Goals, the blight

of Global hunger has not been defeated that much. If anything, its grip on the hundreds of

millions of people has gotten worse with time.

The World Food Programme (WFP) began as a 3 year (1960-1962) experimental project by

the United Nations to assess the feasibility of operating a global food agency that would

respond to the basic needs of the poor in emergency and disaster situations. This resolutionwas adopted by the Food and Agriculture organisation and the UN General Assembly in

1960. Further resolutions between the 1 960s and 1970s drafted more comprehensive roles

for the agency.

It however became a fully-fledged Programme before the end of the project due in large

parts to the;

Earthquakes in Iran, Japan and the former Yugoslavia in 1962 as well as the Algeria refugeecrises in 1961.

There are currently 78 official member countries, 65% of which in Africa. These member

countries are deemed High risk or disaster zones in terms of their critical need for some

form of basic Aid. The agency however responds to every country in emergency/crises

situations. The most critical country program currently is Somalia.

It currently has its headquarters in Rome, Italy with the Executive Director, JosetteSheeran. The current director in charge of Programs is Steven OBrien .

Purpose

The WFP was established as the official agency of the United Nations to combat Global

Hunger.


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It was purposed to;

Save lives and protect livelihoods in emergencies.

To prepare, restore and build livelihoods for emergencies.

Reduce chronic hunger, malnutrition and under nutrition.

Focus on the aspects of development where food based interventions are most

needed.

To engage the poor/vulnerable in building self-reliant programs.

However, with the adoption the UN Development goals in 2000, its role has expanded to

include;

Changing from a food aid system to food assistance.

Supporting government and global efforts in drafting long term solutions to hunger

issues in their respective development policies and programs.

Strengthen the capacity of countries to reduce hunger.

Donor Countries

With an annual tentative budget, WFP is funded from both governmental, financial

institutions and non-governmental sources among others. In 2011 year, seventy (70)

countries and five (5) private Organisations donated to the Programme amounting to

$2,639,803,584 about $1million short of 2010 figure.


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A breakdown of the donor countries is presented below:

Plate 2

Source: wfp.org

Program Statement

The WFP currently has nine (9) concurrent programs managed in its 78 countries via a three

tier process:

These programs include;

The School Meals Program The Food for Assets Program The Cash and Vouchers Program The Purchase for Progress Program The Fight against HIV/AIDS Program The Focus on Women Program The Food Security Analysis Program The Nutrition Program The Logistics Program


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The tier process comprises;

The Global Program e.g.. HIV/AIDS, Focus and women Program

Here, programs are managed at the global level and not specific to any country.

The Country specific programs e.g. the cash vouchers program in Somalia and the School

feeding Programme in Ghana

These are specific programs designed to suit the emerging needs of that member country.

Finally, emergency relief programs e.g. Tsunami in Japan, Haiti Earthquake

These are the immediate relief projects that the WFP undertakes as a response to areas withlooming disasters.


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SECTION TWO

The Rise of Hunger in East Africa

The Sahel-Sahara region of Africa has always been referred to as the dry regions of Africa

where the access to basic water and crop plants is a luxury. The situation has gotten worse

in recent times as changes in the environment as well as changes in political and economic

fortunes have further blighted any progress made.

However, a sudden change in climatic conditions in the early part of 22 BC reduced rainfall

at the horn of Africa. Most scientists attributed the change to continuous deforestation.

None the less, only the immediate lands around the Nile River were fertile. This increased

food prices and caused major class society warfare. The environmental change worsenedinto a drought and famine thus resulted. Other environmental problems included the

invasion by desert locusts, land degradation and soil erosion etc.

In the late 1680s, famine extended across the entire Sahel, and in 1738 half the population

of Timbuktu died of famine.

This 80 year famine cycle recurred again in the 1970s in Ethiopia and the entire East

African Region. Somalia was worst off during this period because of the political unrests.

A hunger map of East Africa is represented below.

Source: www.thejustlife.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbuktuhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbuktuhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahel


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Somalia

Gripped by drought and puzzled with conflict for the last 20 years, Somalia is perhaps the

most challenging environment in the world for any humanitarian operations. It has had no

effective government since 1991 and ranks amongst the poorest and most food insecure

places in the world.

Somalia officially gained independence in 1960 and as such its immediate leaders faced the

challenge of unifying the country with its many powerful tribes, into a unified whole. The

assassination of the president, Abdirashid Shermarke in 1969 marked the turning point in

the countrys hist ory and that has led to its current situation today. The military sized power

on the day of the funeral of the assassinated leader and the country has looked back ever

since then.

Several decades of drought in Somalia forced the Unites States in December 1992 to send

28,000 soldiers to Somalia in a humanitarian styled mission to supply food and other

necessities to the starving people.

After a short period, the US troops were accused of several excesses in executing their

mandate including; abuse of human rights, maiming and the execution of citizens, theft etc.

This resulted in a strong resistance by the Somali people.

As they did not stand for the occupation of their country first initiated by the French, then

the Italian and British empires; certainly the US was not going to be excluded. In just

10months, 10000 Somalis had died.

This resistance period further crippled the government and its ability to provided sustainable

agriculture and irrigation systems that would feed the people in the short to long term period

of the famine. The resistance period thus further worsened the famine situation.

Changing Trends

With a current population of 9.36 million ( UN estimate), 43% of Somalis live under 1$ a

day. With an annual GDP of $5.733, the number of people estimated to be in need of
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdirashid_Ali_Shermarkehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdirashid_Ali_Shermarke


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various kinds of humanitarian assistance in Somalia is currently 2.4 million people(2011) or

32% of the population, a 20% rise over the figure in September 2010.

The last decade has seen Somalia endure the worst drought conditions in more than half a

century. In fact, the USAID in July 2010 declared the food and water shortage in East

Africa "the most severe food security emergency in the world today.

The distribution of basic aid to the food stricken Somalia population which is also scattered

across the region especial Kenya and Ethiopia is further worsened by the current high global

prices of food, the reemergence of the rebel movement, Al Shabaab and massive corruption

in the current food distribution system.

The worsening situation has left to some refugee camps receiving about 2000 people on a

daily basis. For example, in Dollo Ado the capacity of the WFP has been stretched to its

limit as existent camps are already twice their maximum capacity. Continuous daily deaths

(mostly children), transfer of diseases etc. has become a major issue for the WFP to grapple

with.Some of the diseases include, diarrhoea, measles, malaria, meningitis.


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SECTION THREE

Organization of WFP Somalia

The WFP Somalia is the only one with the country office in a foreign country-Kenya. This

is as a result of a bomb blast on its building back in 1999 and the seeming lack of guarantee

for the safety of the WFP staff forced the Agency to move out to Kenya.

This has caused red -tapes in the management of programs in the country. Currently, the

organisation has four field offices scattered in Wajid, Mogadishu , Merka, and Bualle . Due

to the security volatility, these field offices are manned by a few semi-trained temporary

Somali citizens with the permanent technical staff coordinating activities at the headquarters

in Nairobi, Kenya. They only travel to Somalia intermittently and when critical.

The organizational structure of the Programme in Somalia is represented below;

Plate 6

Source: http://www.wfp.org/countries/somalia

The WFP in Somalia has a tentative budget due to the worsening conditions in that region.

Other factors include the ever increasing global food prices, stealing of aid by the rebels,


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high cost of transportation, reduced funding in recent times due to the global financial crises

of wealthy nations among others have accounted for this.

This is represented below.

Source: http://www.wfp.org/countries/somalia

The main problem with the program in this region has always been how to gain direct

access to the poor/vulnerable. Thus, it relies on allied partners such as Care International,

Action Aid and other local Non-Profits to assist it in its distribution, education and skill

training operations. Though most of the aid gets to Somalia by Naval escorts and

helicopters, these partner organizations assist in the deployment of food aid, medical

suppliers and other logistics to the people in the hinterlands. Local clan heads, religious

leaders also assist in organising community members for Aid.

The major stakeholders for the program in Somalia is represented below


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Plate 7

Where;

FSAU-Food Security Analysis Unit

MOA-Ministry of Agriculture

IDP-Internal Displace People

Current Operations

It must be emphasized that, all the Country programs undertaken by the WFP aretemporary interventions designed to build the local capacity of the indigenes to support

themselves.

Firstly, The School Meals Program. This was implemented to serve as a means of retaining

the kids in school whilst providing them with the right balance of nutrients necessary for

growth as well reducing diseases. This is as a result of the poverty situation in the region

which serves as a disincentive for parents to send their kids to school. The Programme

therefore acts as a safety net for both parents and the kids. This Programme in particular

also complements the Millennium Development Goals of reducing hunger by half,

achieving universal primary education and of achieving gender parity in education -- all by

2015.


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SECTION FOUR

Synthesis

To begin with, the WFP must be commended for the huge success it has chalked in the last

decade. In between operating in a high risk area like Somalia where agency staff are

sometimes captured and killed, it has done in a good job but as in all cases it could have

done better in terms of the management of the huge amounts of monetary resources

expended to it annually.

Secondly, the US is the major exporter of food aid to most countries. These items are

bought from American farmers and shipped and Air cargoed to various destinations. The

aid is then distributed by the WFP to the feeding centers scattered in all over the region.This may seem conventional or logical to the onlooker but when analyzed critically, this

process is seriously flawed. The WFP since the adoption of the MDGs has implemented

changes that would enable it change its role from an aid based agency to a n as sistance

based agency. What this means is that, the agency now wants to help the poor/vulnerable

states in drafting and implementing programs that would make such countries self-reliant

and not constantly defendant on foreign aid.

For instance, in 2009, the cost of wheat in the US was $568 per metric ton. In Ethiopia,where about 80,000 Somalia refugees are, the price was $389 per metric ton. Besides,

Ethiopia is only about 250miles away from Somalias capital. If this exce ss money was

invested in creating irrigation facilities, better farming technologies, the ever increasing costs

of the operations of the WFP in Somalia would have been brought down significantly.

Thus, Americas generosity could have bought 36% more wheat if it were sourced locally.

Though its seems like a huge hurdle for the Agency, the Law in the US states that Food Aid

items should be sourced from America, a strong campaign in voicing out the pros and cons

of the current system would surely change minds at capitol hill. This is because, if steps are

not taken to change the current trend, the yearly Aid cycle would never end. (WFP

Strategic Plan 2004-2007)


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Thirdly, civil/tribal conflict. The continuous conflict in the region has limited the ability of

the field staff to access the poor and the vulnerable in the hinterlands.

Further to the above are the added factors of;

High logistics cost: Due to the high risk nature of the region, it is costly to transport food

and other logistics to the feeding centers. Most of the roads are manned by the rebels who

constantly harass drivers to the point of death in some cases. As a result of this, in 2008,

only 12% of food aid reached the population.

There is also poor monitoring and evaluation systems: Due to the lack of critical state

institutions such as a central bank, proper police systems, etc. monitoring of the programs

impact and resource expenditure has been a difficult measure. This has resulted in the

constant leveling of corruption allegations against its field staff and during contracting

processes as espoused by the BBC.

Again, the WFP through its recent food rationing exercise in the region when funds are low

have been accused of exacerbating conflicts. During such periods, there tends to be tension

and the strong sects have their way with the limited suppliers.

Other factors include the combined elements ailments and diseases e.g. Measles, vulnerablerefugee population, no fixed budget as well as piracy.

Recommendations

The WFP should intensify projects involving the training of local and displaced people in

sustainable income generating activities so as to remain self-reliant should to the programcome to an end. The current system unfortunately does not drive sustainability. From the

WFP perspective, food aid is provided to for just emergency conditions and not for a long

term period. Therefore WFP strategy is to help people remain self-sufficient and avoid any

disincentive effects like dependency. But there is limited evidence on the extent to which

this actually happens, due to limitations in monitoring systems.


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References

1. CRD (2005). Traditional governance in Somalia. South-Central Somalia. Draft

report to the World Bank.

2. Menkhaus, K. (2007). The crisis in Somalia: Tragedy in five acts.

3. Susanne Jaspars and Daniel Maxwell July 2008: FIC Targeting in Complex

Emergencies: Somalia Country Case Study

4. TOR Report: An Evaluation Of WFPs Portfolio 2006-2010

5. Thomas C. Mountain, World Food Program in Somalia: Angel of Mercy or Angel of

Death 2001

6. WFP (2006). Protracted relief and recovery operations. Somalia 10191.1.

7. WFP (2007). Report of Safe Distribution of Humanitarian Aid Workshop. Nairobi,

WFP

Web

8. http://www.wfp.org/sites/default/files/2010%2011%20WFP%20Organization%20

Structure.pdf

9. http://www.wfp.org

10. http://www.wfp.org/countries/somalia

11. www.thejustlife.org
http://www.wfp.org/sites/default/files/2010%2011%20WFP%20Organization%20Structure.pdfhttp://www.wfp.org/sites/default/files/2010%2011%20WFP%20Organization%20Structure.pdfhttp://www.wfp.org/sites/default/files/2010%2011%20WFP%20Organization%20Structure.pdfhttp://www.wfp.org/sites/default/files/2010%2011%20WFP%20Organization%20Structure.pdfhttp://www.wfp.org/http://www.wfp.org/countries/somaliahttp://www.wfp.org/countries/somaliahttp://www.wfp.org/countries/somaliahttp://www.wfp.org/http://www.wfp.org/sites/default/files/2010%2011%20WFP%20Organization%20Structure.pdfhttp://www.wfp.org/sites/default/files/2010%2011%20WFP%20Organization%20Structure.pdf

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