ISLAMABAD   -   The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday acknowledged Japan’s generous contributions under three projects that provided emergency assistance for the stabilisation of food-insecure people in the flood-affected areas of Pakistan, implemented in Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 

WFP organised a project completion ceremony to recognise the vital contributions of $7.2 million ($3.7 million, $2.5 million and $1 million) from the government of Japan to address the critical needs of 246,000 people affected by the unprecedented 2022 floods in Pakistan. 

The $2.5 million enabled WFP to provide emergency food assistance to flood-affected communities, ensuring their immediate food security and nutrition needs in 2022, while the $3.7 million and $1 million contributions helped WFP to deliver nutritionally balanced food every month to those actively involved in community rehabilitation, livelihood and resilience building initiatives and identified through district-level consultations in 2023. The $3.7 million grant also supported conditional cash assistance during the early recovery phase. 

Furthermore, tailored capacity-building activities were implemented to enhance local skills in disaster risk reduction, climate-smart agriculture, food production and storage, and other marketable skills. 

The ceremony took place at the WFP Country office in Islamabad in the presence of Ms Coco Ushiyama, WFP Country Director in Pakistan, Wada Mitsuhiro and Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, along with senior Japan Embassy and National Disaster Management Authority officials. 

Speaking on the occasion, Wada appreciated WFP’s Pakistan work and reaffirmed Japan’s commitment by noting “Food security and nutrition are among the priorities for Japanese Official Development Assistance, and we consider them to be the fundamental requirements for achieving sustainable development.” 

“We greatly appreciate the unwavering support provided by the government of Japan, which enabled us to address food insecurity and rebuild livelihoods in flood-affected areas at a critical time”, said Ms Coco Ushiyama, Country Director of WFP Pakistan. 

In 2023, Pakistan continued to grapple with the compounding impact of the devastating 2022 floods that affected more than one-third of the country. 

WFP played a pivotal role in supporting nearly 4.4 million people following 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 $7.2 million from Japan, WFP successfully mobilised over USD 150 million for its emergency flood response by December 2023.