Emergency Food Aid For Vulnerable Groups

The WFP-assisted operation has been successful in providing food aid
to needy people during a time when civil war and the dramatic
transformation of the socio-economic system have pushed large strata
of the population below the poverty line. The system for beneficiary
targeting has been comprehensive but needs further efforts for
refinement as phasing-down efforts may be initiated. However, the
mission considered that the need for continued WFP food assistance
was still there in the absence of a marked improvement of the
economy that would also produce benefits for the most vulnerable
groups and a re-start of a functioning social welfare system. Among
the food-for-work activities, the land-lease programme deserves
particular attention in view of the various levels of benefits it has
produced and can continue to produce. However, the situation in the
country has to be particularly well monitored in order to request in due
course, as the situation improves, an increasing sense of ownership,
responsibility and contribution on the part of the Government and the
communities towards the current beneficiaries of WFP assistance.