KABUL – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed a US$26 million in-kind contribution from the United States Government to provide food assistance to the most vulnerable people of Afghanistan.
"This generous contribution from the United States and its people will assist millions of Afghans, including those affected by emergencies, such as floods, drought and landslides, and those displaced by fighting," said Rick Corsino, Country Director WFP Afghanistan. "It will also assist the unemployed living in the most food insecure parts of the country."
The donation of 48,000 metric tons of wheat will be distributed to poor Afghans involved in a variety of WFP projects.
"Through donations such as this one from the United States, WFP is helping the Afghan government and people build a better future, even while other groups seem intent on making life worse for the neediest Afghans," said Tony Banbury, WFP's Regional Director for Asia.
Under Food-for-Work, communities are paid in food to build or repair roads, rebuild canals and plant trees.. Food will also be distributed in selected areas prior to the onset of winter, when prolonged cold and snows restrict access for hundreds of thousands of Afghans.
WFP's three-year US$378 million Afghanistan operation is currently 61 percent funded. Donors include the United States (US$116 million), the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (US$28.3 million) see: http://ochaonline.un.org, India (US$24.5 million), Canada (US$10.4 million), Japan (US$9.2 million), the Netherlands (US$7.3 million), Switzerland (US$3.9 million), Italy (US$2.3 million), Luxembourg (US$2.1 million), Saudi Arabia (US$2 million), Belgium (US$1.5 million), France (US$1.3 million), Germany (US$1.3 million), Australia (US$980,000), Sweden (US$970.000), Spain (US$780,000), Denmark (US$325,000), Norway (US$210,000), Poland (US$200,000), the Faroe Islands (US$180,000), Qatar (US$110,000), Lithuania (US$75,000), Ireland (US$44,000) and the United Kingdom (US$24,000). A further US$212,000 was contributed by the private sector and US$2.1 million in multilateral contributions.
WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency: on average, each year, we give food to 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs, including 58 million hungry children, in 80 of the world's poorest countries. WFP – We Feed People.
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For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):
Jackie Dent, WFP/Afghanistan, Cell. +93-797-662116
Paul Risley, WFP/Bangkok, Tel. +66-2-6554115, Cell +66-81-7019208
Brenda Barton, Deputy Director Communications, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39-06-65132602, Cell. +39-3472582217 (ISDN line available)
Gregory Barrow, WFP/London, Tel.. +44-20-72409001, Cell. +44-7968-008474
Christiane Berthiaume, WFP/Geneva, Tel. +41-22-9178564, Cell. +41-792857304
Jennifer Parmelee, WFP/Washington, Tel. +1-202-6530010 ext. 1149, Cell. +1-202-4223383
Bettina Luescher, WFP/New York, Tel. +1-212-9635196, Cell. +1-646-8241112, luescher@un.org