WFP Sierra Leone Country Brief, April 2022

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In Numbers

257.3 mt of food assistance distributed

USD 0 cash-based transfers made

USD 8.5 m six-month (May – October 2022) net funding requirements

212,811 people assisted in April 2022

Operational Updates

Crisis Response

  • As the lean season approaches coupled with rising food prices, WFP is facing a 95 percent shortfall (USD 5.8 million) for its unconditional cash-based transfers (CBT) programme. Consequently, WFP will not be able to provide emergency assistance to 20,000 food insecure households or be in a position to respond to sudden shocks that could arise during the rainy season.

Root Causes of Hunger

  • WFP provided technical and financial support to the Governments’ Directorate of Food and Nutrition for the validation of the updated national nutrition policy (2022-2031). The policy is intended to contribute to improved health, social and economic well-being for the entire population and across all stages of the life cycle. WFP’s assistance is part of a broader national capacity strengthening initiative in Sierra Leone. Notably, a new element of the policy is the re-positioning of nutrition as a cross-cutting issue and the integration of nutrition across all national development efforts.

Resilience Building

  • The Government of Sierra Leone provided Le 30.6 billion (USD2.3 million) for school feeding in Bonthe, Kenema and Karene districts, implemented by WFP in 553 pre-primary and primary schools.

  • Additionally, development partners fund WFP’s school feeding activities in Kambia and Pujehun districts, where home-grown school feeding is being piloted. Through this project, small-scale farmers continued to supply locally grown vegetables to schools, feeding over 5,000 children across 17 schools.

  • WFP assisted nine farmer-based organizations to rehabilitate their grain drying floors in Pujehun district, to strengthen post-harvest management infrastructure.