WFP in the heart of Kavango Regions

The World Food Programme (WFP), is working in partnership with the USAID Food for Peace Programme to reduce hunger and malnutrition and assure that adequate, safe and nutritious food is available, accessible to and well-utilized by all individuals at all times to support a healthy and productive life.

As part of stakeholder engagement/monitoring, on 5 and 8 May 2020, the Governor of Kavango East Region, Hon. Bonifatius Wakudumo accompanied by a delegation from the region visited the WFP managed warehouse at Uvhungu Vhungu Green Scheme where food commodities are stored for both the Drought Response (DRR) programme as well as PEPFAR Programme. Since the commencement of food assistance in the region 44900 beneficiaries have been assisted with 909.71 MT of food.

The warehouse accommodates maize meal, pulses, cooking oil and salt which are distributed to vulnerable food insecure communities affected by drought in the Kavango East and West regions.  The staff and volunteers at the warehouses are ensuring adherence to COVID-19 safety measures by handwashing prior to entry into the storage facilities as well as wearing personal protective equipment to ensure clean and safe handling of food. The warehouse visit followed a successful courtesy visit to the Hon. Governor to update on progress of implementation of the two programmes in the region. During the visit, warehouse staff (WFP and the Cooperating partner/Red Cross) took the delegation through to explain the processes that take place there, the stacks, the commodities and their quantities as well as pipeline forecasts. A demonstration of some value addition/repackaging processes was also given. The delegation also benefited from an interesting demonstration of varieties of pulses (beans), these pulses have a long shelf life and are high in protein.

During the visit, Hon. Wakudumo expressed gratitude to the programme highlighting that in times like these - due to COVID19 and the existing unfavorable climate the programme is saving lives and reducing poverty in the region. He concluded by emphasizing the need for more programme support, including community level resilient building programmes to support improving and protecting livelihoods of the vulnerable communities.

To complete the mission, delegates also visited the Uvhungu-Vhungu Green Scheme Governors flagship programme called Operation Werengendje. The programme is operating in two locations, UVhungu Vhungu which has 15 hectares and Mashare which has 8 hectares of maize breed. WFP supported the programme financially and Mashonaland West Province in Zimbabwe which has a twinning Agreement with the Kavango East Region is providing Technical assistance to this trial. The programme is cultivating seeds that are drought resistant and suitable with the climatic condition of the Region. The resilience programme has been supporting 1500 subsistence and small-scale farmers in Kavango East through this green scheme while also providing farmers with arable land seeds to plant on their own land.

The WFP programme team also paid a courtesy visit to the Governor of Kavango West Region on 7 May 2020 to share implementation progress on the Drought Response (DRR) and food assistance programmes for the Kavango West region. The courtesy call was followed by a visit to the warehouse for the programme food commodities, the logistics team toured the delegation through the supply chain processes of the programmes including measures in place to ensure clean and safe handling and storage of food rations increasingly during COVID19 Pandemic.