ISLAMABAD: Japan’s generous contributions have provided emergency assistance in three projects for the stabilization of food-insecure people in the flood-hit areas in Pakistan’s Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces with the support of United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
According to a press release issued by the embassy of Japan, the WFP organised a Project Completion ceremony to recognize the vital contributions of USD 7.2 million (USD 3.7 million, USD 2.5 million and USD 1 million) from the Government of Japan to address the crucial needs of 246,000 people affected by the massive 2022 floods in Pakistan.
The USD 2.5 million helped the WFP to provide emergency food assistance to flood-affected communities, ensuring their immediate food security and nutrition requirements in 2022, while the USD 3.7 million and USD 1 million contributions assisted the WFP to deliver nutritionally balanced food every month to those actively involved in livelihood, community rehabilitation and resilience building initiatives and identified through district-level consultations in 2023.
The grant of USD 3.7 million also supported conditional cash assistance during the early recovery phase. Furthermore, tailored capacity-building activities were implemented to improve local skills in disaster risk reduction, food production and storage, climate-smart agriculture and other marketable skills.
The ceremony was held at the WFP Country office in Islamabad with the presence of Coco Ushiyama, WFP Country Director in Pakistan, Wada Mitsuhiro, Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, along with senior Japan Embassy and National Disaster Management Authority officials.
Japanese ambassador, Wada Mitsuhiro speaking at the occasion commended the WFP’s Pakistan work and reaffirmed Japan’s commitment by noting food security and nutrition are among the priorities for Japanese Official Development Assistance.
Coco Ushiyama, Country Director of WFP Pakistan appreciated the unwavering support provided by the government of Japan, which enabled the organization to address food insecurity and rebuild livelihoods in flood-affected areas at a critical time.
In 2023, Pakistan continued to grapple with the immense impact of the devastating 2022 floods that affected more than one-third of the country. The WFP played a vital role in supporting nearly 4.4 million people after the flood crisis through a variety of complementary interventions to address both critical and immediate humanitarian needs through unconditional cash support to approximately 1.7 million people in 2023 and longer-term needs to build resilience, enhance livelihoods opportunities, and address malnutrition.
Overall, with generous and timely support from donors and partners including this USD 7.2 million from Japan, the WFP successfully mobilized over USD 150 million for its emergency flood response by December 2023.
