WFP to feed over 110 000 vulnerable Nam children

ORPHANS and vulnerable children in Namibia’s six northern regions will receive food aid from the World Food Programme, valued at US$15 million (N$ 91,5 million), until at least the end of next year.

The WFP will target around 111 000 children during which time it is hoped that they will be able to access Government grants intended to assist needy children. WFP Country Director John Prout told The Namibian yesterday that he hoped the food distribution would start by April.Last week, UN special envoy James Morris announced that assistance to Namibian children would form part of a regional initiative that will feed some 10 million people in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.FOOD INSECURE TARGETED Prout said, however, that the regional media reports which said Namibia was facing a “hunger crisis” and that the beneficiaries were all orphaned as a result of HIV-AIDS, were inaccurate.”We are targeting orphans and vulnerable children.They are not all necessarily orphans.There is some confusion about the definition.We are talking about vulnerable children who may be orphans,” said Prout.The six regions that will receive assistance are Oshana, Omusati, Ohangwena, Oshikoto, Kavango and Caprivi.The Ministry said yesterday that its main target was to reach children identified as under-nourished and food insecure.Namibia officially became part of the UN’s assistance to populations in Southern Africa vulnerable to food insecurity and the impact of AIDS last month.The Control Social Worker in the Gender Equality and Child Welfare Ministry, Lucia Eises, said the programme would target children up to the age of eighteen, whether they were orphaned or not.”It will be handled on a merit basis.We can’t say that the grant they are receiving from the Ministry can fully cater for all the needs of a child.If a child is in need of support, care and assistance, they would be considered,” said Eises.The greatest number of children to benefit from the WFP assistance are in Ohangwena, where close to 26 000 of the 228 384 children under eighteen have been identified as food insecure in the 2001 Census and other Government food assessments.Omusati (23 973) and Kavango (21 246) follow as the regions with the most number of children in need of assistance.Around 16 702 children will be in line for food aid in the Oshikoto Region, another 15 440 in Oshana and 7 553 in Caprivi.The last WFP programme for vulnerable children in these regions as part of drought relief ended last August.Eises said it was not only orphans that struggled to attain regular access to food, but that many parents were unable to provide adequately for their children, especially crop farmers hit by drought.She said it was a prerogative of her Ministry to help communities start agricultural projects to be able to produce food to sustain themselves.Prout said yesterday that the WFP had agreed to assist the Gender Equality and Child Welfare Ministry because the coverage of grants was quite low.”The food is being given to children until such time as they are registered for grants.Once they move over into the Government safety system, they will come off the food,” he said.The children will receive maize meal, pulses, vegetable oil and corn-soya blend as part of the food distribution.Eises said the Ministry recognised that there were also children in need of food assistance in other parts of the country, but that the northern regions had the highest concentrations of vulnerable children who were very reliant on crop production for their survival.Recent droughts had exacerbated their situation and she said in areas where communities were dependent on livestock farming, the children were slightly better off.”We have selected the most affected.It is not to say that the others are not affected, but we can only help so many,” Eises said.”We are trying to get as many children on the system [for grants] as we can”.Currently 41 000 children are registered to receive welfare grants from the Ministry.WFP Country Director John Prout told The Namibian yesterday that he hoped the food distribution would start by April.Last week, UN special envoy James Morris announced that assistance to Namibian children would form part of a regional initiative that will feed some 10 million people in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.FOOD INSECURE TARGETED Prout said, however, that the regional media reports which said Namibia was facing a “hunger crisis” and that the beneficiaries were all orphaned as a result of HIV-AIDS, were inaccurate.”We are targeting orphans and vulnerable children.They are not all necessarily orphans.There is some confusion about the definition.We are talking about vulnerable children who may be orphans,” said Prout.The six regions that will receive assistance are Oshana, Omusati, Ohangwena, Oshikoto, Kavango and Caprivi.The Ministry said yesterday that its main target was to reach children identified as under-nourished and food insecure. Namibia officially became part of the UN’s assistance to populations in Southern Africa vulnerable to food insecurity and the impact of AIDS last month.The Control Social Worker in the Gender Equality and Child Welfare Ministry, Lucia Eises, said the programme would target children up to the age of eighteen, whether they were orphaned or not.”It will be handled on a merit basis.We can’t say that the grant they are receiving from the Ministry can fully cater for all the needs of a child.If a child is in need of support, care and assistance, they would be considered,” said Eises.The greatest number of children to benefit from the WFP assistance are in Ohangwena, where close to 26 000 of the 228 384 children under eighteen have been identified as food insecure in the 2001 Census and other Government food assessments.Omusati (23 973) and Kavango (21 246) follow as the regions with the most number of children in need of assistance.Around 16 702 children will be in line for food aid in the Oshikoto Region, another 15 440 in Oshana and 7 553 in Caprivi.The last WFP programme for vulnerable children in these regions as part of drought relief ended last August.Eises said it was not only orphans that struggled to attain regular access to food, but that many parents were unable to provide adequately for their children, especially crop farmers hit by drought.She said it was a prerogative of her Ministry to help communities start agricultural projects to be able to produce food to sustain themselves.Prout said yesterday that the WFP had agreed to assist the Gender Equality and Child Welfare Ministry because the coverage of grants was quite low.”The food is being given to children until such time as they are registered for grants.Once they move over into the Government safety system, they will come off the food,” he said.The children will receive maize meal, pulses, vegetable oil and corn-soya blend as part of the food distribution.Eises said the Ministry recognised that there were also children in need of food assistance in other parts of the country, but that the northern regions had the highest concentrations of vulnerable children who were very reliant on crop production for their survival.Recent droughts had exacerbated their situation and she said in areas where communities were dependent on livestock farming, the children were slightly better off.”We have selected the most affected.It is not to say that the others are not affected, but we can only help so many,” Eises said.”We are trying to get as many children on the system [for grants] as we can”.Currently 41 000 children are registered to receive welfare grants from the Ministry.