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Italian Contribution To WFP Will Assist Over 20,000 Vulnerable People In Sudan

by World Food Programme | World Food Programme
Thursday, 4 September 2014 12:11 GMT

* Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

KASSALA/KHARTOUM – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed a contribution of US$950,000 from the Italian government that will be used to boost WFP's assistance to more than 20,000 vulnerable people in Sudan, especially young children in the eastern states of Kassala and Red Sea.

"We are very grateful for the firm commitment of the Italian Government to the work that we have been doing in eastern Sudan.  Through their generous contribution, we have been able to help promote the education of young boys and girls, improve literacy among vulnerable groups of women and enhance communities' ability to cope during the lean season in this region," said WFP Country Director Adnan Khan.  

 "Our cooperation with WFP in Eastern Sudan goes back a long way," said Italian Ambassador to Sudan Armando Barucco who recently visited project sites in Hamashkorieb locality, some 250 kilometres north of Kassala state, with WFP. "We developed a special partnership especially in Food-For-Work, Food-For-Training and Food-For-Education activities. We see the positive impact of these activities on the people of Hamashkorieb and we are committed to pursuing our work in the area," he said.

"The Italian Government attaches the greatest importance to girls' education," Barucco added. Our own experience has shown how essential the contribution of female education is to peace, stability and development."

Since 2010, Italy has contributed US$8.1 million in support of the agency's activities in the region.   

This particular contribution will be used to provide nutritious hot meals to some 1,970 schoolchildren in Kassala state and another 7,347 in the state of Red Sea under WFP's school feeding programme.   In addition, 1, 765 schoolgirls from Kassala and the Red Sea states will also receive take-home food rations.  

The Italian Government contribution will also enable WFP to assist some 10,885 vulnerable people, 6,835 of them from the Red Sea state and 4,050 from Kassala state through a food-for-work scheme.   Around 265 individuals, a majority of whom are women from vulnerable and marginalised families, will receive food rations and literacy training through the Food-for-Training programme.  

"The whole mix of activities that we support in eastern Sudan is designed to promote long-term food security among vulnerable families in a sustainable manner and create better opportunities for their children," said Khan.  

Sudan remains one of WFP's largest and most complex operations, providing food assistance to people suffering from conflict, displacement and chronic under-nourishment in Darfur, as well as in the east and border areas to the south.

In 2014, WFP plans to assist 4.1 million people across Sudan, 3.2 million of whom are in the conflict-affected region of Darfur and close to 1 million in eastern and central Sudan through general food distributions, food-for-training, food-for-work, school feeding and nutrition programmes to prevent and treat moderate acute malnutrition among women and children.

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WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food in emergencies and working with communities to build resilience. In 2013, WFP assisted more than 80 million people in 75 countries.

Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media

For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org): Amor Almagro, WFP/Khartoum, Tel. +249 183248001 (ext. 2114), Mob. +249 912174853 Abdulaziz Abdulmomin, WFP/Khartoum, Tel. +249 183248001 (ext. 2123), Mob. +249 912167055

 

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