World Vision Looks Beyond Food Provision in Pakistan

|TOP|Following the first phase food distributions in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), World Vision is negotiating plans to engage in Food for Work and other activities to meet the needs of quake victims.

From November until the end of February, World Vision distributed some 2188MT of food to families from 200 villages in the Siran Valley. The distribution covers more than 65,000 people including 36,000 children.

World Vision will soon begin distribution of wheat soybean porridge for children under the age of three, in addition to distributing wheat flour, vegetable oil, pulses, salt, dates, high-energy biscuits and fortified biscuits.

”We have been receiving food supplies from World Vision since November, which have greatly helped us to meet our food needs,” said Noor Hussain and Abdur Rashid from Gali Khaitran village in Jabouri after a food distribution in World Vision's Jabouri camp.

|AD|”We have also received tents, tarpaulins, quilts, blankets, Corrugated Galvanised Iron sheets and construction tools from World Vision,” they added.

World Vision distribution team leader Sheraaz Samuel, based in Jabouri, explained, “We allocate different days for distribution to people from various villages and they come down to our camp to collect the food supplies.”

World Vision is exploring ways to support the operation, targeting people who lost their houses, livestock, agricultural land and lack remittance or family support.

Food-for-work projects will help to rehabilitate communal infrastructure, which will support some 180,000 especially vulnerable people, including the elderly, female-headed households and families lacking income generation opportunities while they rebuild their homes and restore their livelihoods until the first crop in October.

World Vision Commodities Officer, Sayed Mahmood explained, “We are negotiating with and writing a proposal for WFP to engage in Food for Work, linking this with Cash for Work. We are also looking to contribute to the School Feeding Project with WFP.”

WFP Country Director, Michael Jones said, “It is important that people know they will have some food in the mountains as they leave the camps and return to their villages. The food will also ensure that they do not use the government construction compensation to buy food rather than rebuild their homes.”

In addition, about 450,000 children will benefit from school feeding projects and some 30,000 girls in middle schools will receive take home rations as an incentive to enrol and regularly attend classes. World Vision has recently set about establishing 52 temporary schools and five new Child Friendly Spaces (CFS’s) in the remote mountainous areas of the Saraash and Siran valleys, having conducted livelihood, child protection and education surveys.