CM lauds World Food Program for various projects in Sindh

The agency has been running projects against malnutrition and stunting in the province

KARACHI: The government, with the help of the World Food Program (WFP) and other donor agencies, is working hard to resolve the issues of malnutrition and stunting.

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said this while talking to a delegation of the WFP led by its executive director in Pakistan David M Beasley.

The WFP has a long history of providing humanitarian and development assistance to Sindh, the CM said, adding that, in addition to partnering with the government, it also collaborated with other United Nations' agencies, and local and international non-govnermental organisations to respond to the emergencies of food security in the province. Shah lauded the food assistance provided by the WFP during the floods of 2010, 2011 and 2012.

In a three-year project that began in January, 2016, the WFP had been supporting food assistance, management of acute malnutrition, preventing stunting and disaster risk management in the province, the CM said.

Since 2013, the WFP has also been implementing nutrition sensitive interventions and providing nutrition support to vulnerable communities in the province. In 2015, it assisted as many as 508,120 beneficiaries in Sindh by providing $6.1 million in cash and 3,670 tons of food.



The meeting was briefed by the planning and development board chairperson about the various programmes launched by the WFP in Sindh.

The meeting was informed that under the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) programme, the WFP provided technical assistance to the Sindh government and established a SUN provincial secretariat to facilitate coordination among different stakeholders. The WFP had also been managing a stunting prevention programme in Thatta and Sujawal districts, the meeting was told. The project focused on children up to 1,000 days or 2.7 years old and strived to prevent stunting.

The CM felicitated the agency for the success of the SUN and stunting prevention programmes, which had produced satisfactory results. The former helped decrease malnutrition by 19.6% while the latter helped control stunting in Thatta by 8%. The progress report of the stunting programme in Sujawal was being compiled, the meeting was informed.

The participants were also briefed that through the Community Based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) project, the WFP was covering moderately acute malnourished children between six and 59 months old through a targeted supplementary feeding programme in Tharparkar, Umerkot, Sanghar and Jamshoro districts. The WFP distributed 2,153 tons of food under the CMAM project

The CM said the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) worked effectively during natural calamities, however, its staff members needed trainings for their further capacity building. The WFP and provincial government agreed to work together for capacity building and providing other necessary support to the PDMA, Sindh.



The WFP delegation also included David Kaatrud, Finbarr Curran and Katrien Ghoos, while the CM was assisted by Planning and Development Minister Saeed Ghani, Chief Secretary Rizwan Memon, Planning and Development Board Chairperson Mohammad Waseem and Principal Secretary to the CM Sohail Rajput. Benazir Income Support Programme Chairperson Marvi Memon also attended the meeting.