The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Afghanistan has welcomed a contribution by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) of $100 million to help provide critical food assistance to more than 1.3 million people across the country.
A special focus will be on widow- and women-headed households and other highly vulnerable groups like people with disabilities or families surviving solely on begging. For many of these families, WFP has become their last lifeline.
“Afghanistan has faced an unprecedented humanitarian crisis compounded by climate change and intense droughts, floods, and earthquakes”, ADB said in a statement.
“Women and children are disproportionately affected with many women-led households suffering a lack of food and reduced access to services given women’s restrictions on movement outside their homes.”
With this contribution, WFP will also train food-insecure women on marketable and entrepreneurial skills and alternative livelihoods along the agricultural value chain, such as fruit and vegetable processing.
During the training, they will be supported with monthly cash transfers, while improving their long-term livelihoods and ability to stand on their own feet and buy food for their families thanks to their new skills.
“This contribution comes at a critical moment for Afghanistan, where 15 million people are going hungry and WFP only can still support three million people with emergency food assistance due to a massive funding crisis”, said Hsiao-Wei Lee, Country Director of WFP Afghanistan.
“We are grateful for this generous contribution from the Asian Development Bank that will help us reach families in need starting before winter, when hunger bites hardest.”
This is the second contribution from ADB to WFP in Afghanistan, following $135 million in the past year which put it amongst the top five contributors. This year, ADB is the biggest partner of WFP, to date.
