NEWSLETTER

GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY CLUSTER

OPERATIONAL UPDATES

AFGHANISTAN

The combined impact of conflict, drought and economic collapse following the takeover by Taliban in August 2021generated a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions in Afghanistan, with some 22.8 million people – half of the population – projected  to face acute  food insecurity (IPC3 and IPC4) in the November 2021 – March 2022 projection period. The La Niña event in 2022 will likely result in IPC Phase 2 + provinces slipping into worse Phases. To address the high levels of food insecurity, FSAC is scaling up the response and plan to reach:

• 21.6 million food‐insecure men, women and children with emergency life‐ saving food assistance in cash or in‐kind.
•  10,7 million vulnerable and food insecure people with  livelihoods assistance.

In January & February 2022, FSAC partners have assisted 12.3 million people in all 34 provinces. 

• 11,912,206 people received food assistance.
• 408,051 people supported with livelihoods protection assistance.

In addition, the 2022 Pre‐Lean Season Assessment has been conducted in collaboration  with  WFP and through the Assessment Working Group (AWG). Data collection started in the last week of January 2022 and will feed into the upcoming IPC Analysis, supported by the FSAC and its partners in March with the report expected in April 2022.

HORN OF AFRICA DROUGHT

As a result of the worst drought in 40 years, Ethiopia is experiencing a prolonged drought following three consecutive failed rainy seasons with estimated 6.8 million people affected,  while in Somalia an estimated 4.1 million people,  or 25 per cent of the population, could face acute food insecurity at Crisis levels (IPC Phase 3 or above) or worse outcomes through mid‐ 2022.

The impact of the drought in eastern and southern Ethiopia has extended to at least 11 administrative zones across three regions: Somali, Oromia and SNNP. Agriculture and Food  Clusters in Ethiopia are both responding to the crisis with livelihoods and food assistance:

• Assisting urgently pastoral and agro pastoral communities to protecting their livestock and assets, to avoid the adoption of irreversible copying mechanisms, with the risk of becoming destitute and food assistance dependent.
• Implementing feed support, livestock treatment and vaccination, trainings. 
• Contributing to the regional governments’ response plans. 

However there is a limited capacity due to funds shortfalls which risks to exacerbate the already dire situation of local populations and IDPs, resulting in a sharp deterioration of livestock body conditions including livestock deaths due to starvation and drought induced diseases.

A similar situation is registered in Somalia where the Food Security Cluster and its partners are targeting all people in IPC3+ in the affected regions but funding constraints leave a big gap: in February 2022 only 2.1 million of people were reached (against a target of 3.15 million) with unconditional and conditional transfers in accessible areas, including internally displaced populations. The situation in both countries is dramatic and is compounded by internal conflict, insecurity and access challenges.

SYRIA
Results

• The Food Security Sector was able to reach 5.8 million people with regular food baskets  (2022 target set at 8 million).

• In addition, 2.3 million people were reached with bread and flour distribution, 324,745 people with emergency response through Ready to Eat Rations, Cooked Meals & Emergency Food Baskets, and 387,139 people with mixed food items. 

• Moreover, at least 128,785 beneficiaries have been reached with livelihoods interventions (2022 target set at 6.6 million) since the beginning of the year across various activities with support provided used enhance self-reliance of affected households by protecting and building productive assets and restoring or creating income generating opportunities to save and sustain lives

Unprecedented 2-year Humanitarian Response Plan

The WoS Food Security Sector conducted the Food Security Assessment (FSA) and the Food  Security and Livelihoods Assessment (FSA‐FSLA) in October and December 2021. A five‐day HNO validation workshop was held in January 2022 gathering 120 FSS WoS coordinators and partners (in presence and virtually). Each hub of WoS presented thoroughly assessed and verified PiN datasets, indicating the aggravation of food insecurity and malnutrition rates, which were incorporated in an unprecedentedly 2‐year HRP for 2022‐23, updating HNO 2022 FSA and FSA HRP 2022‐23 chapters to reflect the most recent findings and needs.

Urgent need to fill in funding gaps

The FSA will likely lose part of the gains achieved so far and the Multi-year humanitarian response plan 2022/23 (MYRP 2022/2023) will have reduced effectiveness and impact. Main impact of funding cuts would result in the:

• Combination of ration cuts and reduced beneficiary coverage.
• Deterioration or decrease in food consumption.
• Reduced productivity of agriculture programmes.

MADAGASCAR 

The SAMS Cluster (Food Security and Livelihoods Cluster) was officially activated in December 2021. Food security and nutrition interventions in the Great South have significantly scaled up since the last quarter of 2021, with effects visible during the latest IPC analysis (December 2021) as there were no more pockets of IPC5. While assistance remains insufficient(in terms of coverage of needs, distributions of food\cash only reached 77% of what was planned) and  food insecurity is high, with 1.64million people classified in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) or Emergency (IPC Phase 4), corresponding to 37% of the population analyzed, humanitarian food assistance  has provided broad coverage in terms of the number of beneficiaries (refer to the FSC dashboard), thus averting a catastrophic situation.

Moreover, in the months of February and March 2022, FSC partners have been providing life‐ saving assistance to people affected by tropical storms and cyclones that hit the eastern coast of the island. More than 300k people have been estimated as in need of food security assistance.

YEMEN

In Yemen 19 million people (60% of the analyzed population) will likely be in IPC3 or worse from June 2022.

FSC achievements for January 2022 include:

• Out of the 16.7 million monthly target for life‐saving food assistance, 5.4 million received the regular assistance package (1,650 kcal), 8 million received reduced rations (1,100 kcal) and 3.3 million couldn’t be assisted due to funding  shortfalls – totaling 13.4 million beneficiaries reached. This confirms the ration cuts trend observed in 2021.
• 30.000 beneficiaries provided with emergency agricultural, livestock or fisheries kits. In 2021, 1 million people were reached.

• 230.000 people supported through conditional and season specific cash transfer, to rehabilitate community assets, infrastructure, provide seasonal employment opportunities and increase HH income. Cumulatively, in 2021 2.8 million people were reached.

• 10.000 beneficiaries received support to restore livelihood assets and assistance in  establishing micro businesses and trainings to enhance employability – 1,6% of the 600.000  2022 annual target.

UKRAINE

As of March 30^th, A total of 104 partners of the Food Security and Livelihoods Cluster (FSLC),  including donors, lead organizations and their implementing partners, are currently active in Ukraine. At the moment, only 16 organizations have provided reported their activities. Current results are incomplete but do provide a snapshot of the response:

• Partners are present in 25 of the 25 Oblasts.
• Their activities are concentrated in the following Oblasts: Donestka, Kharkivska, Lvivska, Poltavska, Zaporiska and Kyiv, with 5 to 8 organizations present on the ground.
• Over  1,4 million people were reached emergency food kits, hot meals and food distribution recommended food baskets;
• Approximately 36% of the beneficiaries were reached in the Kharkivska Oblast, another 16% in Kyiv.

Note: The figures correspond to the total number of people reached from February 24th until March 30th. It is cumulative and does not reflect the frequency nor the level of support provided. The data is for Completed and Ongoing activities only.

The FSLC of Ukraine and Global IM team are  updating the FSL and OCHA websites on a weekly basis every Wednesday with latest figures available, go to https://fscluster.org/ukraine  or https://www.unocha.org/ukraine to keep up to date on the FSLC response.

EVENTS

PAST PARTNERS MEETING (Nov 2021)
The last meeting was in November and attended by about 500 participants over the 3 days.  This included food security and conflict, IPC famine typologies, definitions and classifications, anticipatory action and FSC role, climate variability and forecasted based action, environmental degradation and much more. REPORT HERE

NEXT VIRTUAL GLOBAL PARTNERS MEETING - MAY / JUNE 2022
Dates to be confirmed. More details will follow shortly

GLOBAL SUPPORT & SURGE MISSIONS
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Available resources & toolkits

GBV risk mitigation and prevention in CVA

The GBV AoR has a dedicated GBV & Cash and Voucher Assistance Specialist to engage with Cash actors in key humanitarian responses to advocate and build capacity for strengthened GBV risk mitigation and prevention in multipurpose Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA). In several countries (Somalia, Burundi, Northwest Syria, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Iraq) cash actors have been closely collaborating to ensure CVA does not put women and girls at further risk. Mitigation measures have been identified and put in place. Concretely, this includes:

• Programming\drafting action plans
• Capacity building of cash actors and referral mechanism to GBV and protection specialists
• GBV Risk Mitigation in CVA Toolkit (pilot phase)

At country level, should you want to get guidance or support to ensure that GBV risks are mitigated in your programming, please reach out to the GBV coordination group (AOR) in place and check the Cash & Voucher Assistance and GBV Compendium: Practical Guidance for Humanitarian Practitioners. For additional resources please check the GBV AoR Website as well as CalP library. 

CP and FS initiative

As part of a global initiative between the Global Child Protection Area of Responsibility, Plan International and the Global Food Security Cluster, the CP AoR and Plan are conducting an evidence review on linkages between food security and child protection. They are also looking for examples of current programs / activities which integrate child protection and food security, as well as tools which actors may already have developed and are using for CP-FS integration. 

In light of the above, we are seeking your support to:

• Share any information/resource you may have
• Forward this email to your partners so that they can also directly contribute

Email address for sharing the documents: Yang Fu at Yang.Fu@plan.de (please CC   cristina.majorano@wfp.org). Any language is welcome.

NEWS FROM THE FIELD

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