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afrol News, 23 January - The new regional bureau of the UN food programme (WFP) in Yaoundé, Cameroon, covering nine central African countries from Angola to Ghana is responsible for providing food aid to 900,000 people. The programme is however struggling seriously, as the funds provided to WFP have halved since 1996. - Although donors have given generously to victims of war and natural disaster in Central Africa, the international community must not to lose sight of the region's severely under-funded long-term development programmes, the head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned yesterday. Speaking in Yaoundé, Cameroon, at the opening of the agency's new regional bureau for Central Africa, WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini said that half of the region's long-term development projects have received little funding at all. - That follows a trend in recent years in which WFP's resources for global development programmes have steadily declined, with funds almost halved since 1996 and an all-time low of US$ 243 million available last year, she added. The lack of project financing poses a particular challenge to projects in Central Africa, however, as three of the seven countries that run development programmes have received less than 50 per cent of the funds they need. - WFP's development programmes are essential to haul people out of the cycle of hunger and poverty, giving them a chance to build for their future, Ms. Bertini said. "If we help families invest in their future, and become more secure in their food needs, they will be able to cope better when disaster strikes." The new regional bureau, known as Operations Division Yaoundé (ODY), will enable the UN agency to put its strategic resources - such as key personnel and decision-making powers - closer to the millions who need food aid, Ms. Bertini said. Set-up in the Cameroon capital last August, ODY will help fight poverty and hunger in the region's nine countries: Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo Kinshasa (DRC), Congo Brazzaville (RoC), Ghana and Sao Tomé. In this vast geographical area, WFP’s development food is targeted at 900,000 people - one fifth of the total number of people receiving food in the region - through education, rural development and food for work projects. In countries such as Benin, Cameroon, Ghana and Sao Tome, the Agency’s food rations cover people’s everyday needs in the poorest rural areas. Giving them time and energy to improve their lives for the future such as building water catchment areas, community granaries, improving roads and agricultural projects to support local farmers. Over 50 per cent of the Agency’s development work in Central Africa goes towards feeding children in school. In Cameroon, for example, the school-feeding programme which began in 1998, has doubled enrolment from 49,000 to 92,000 children. Providing one meal a day at school has ensured an overall increase in attendance from 70 per cent to as high as 99 per cent in some schools and has encouraged 45 per cent more girls to enrol at school. Sources: Based on UN sources
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