LUANDA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a contribution of US$ 293,000 from the Government of Japan to support resilience building activities for refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) residing in Lunda Norte province.

“The Japanese government is firmly committed to promoting the humanitarian-development nexus and helping rebuild self-reliance opportunities for refugees,” said Maruhashi Jiro, Ambassador of Japan to Angola. “The proposed livelihood activities will also contribute to social cohesion through the involvement of host communities in asset creation.”

The contribution from Japan will support 125 refugee families (around 500 people) with food assistance for six months whilst providing them access to agricultural inputs (tools and seeds) and training opportunities on modern farm technologies, animal husbandry and post-harvest management. The selection of families and necessary assessments are starting in April 2022, while the trainings coupled with food distributions are scheduled to start in July.

“Japan has been one of the main donors for our refugee assistance operation and has already contributed US$ 875,000 between 2019 and 2021,” said José Ferrão, Head of WFP Office in Angola. “This new contribution will allow WFP to start building a path to self-sufficiency for our beneficiaries, since our eventual goal in Lovua settlement is not just to help refugees meet their basic food requirements, but also to assist them in restoring their livelihoods.”

In February 2022, WFP assisted nearly 7,000 refugees with general food distributions providing maize meal, pulses, vegetable oil and salt. WFP recognizes the pressing need to reduce their dependence on food assistance and has been working with Government and partners to engage refugees in food production and promote opportunities for their increased self-reliance.

Source: World Food Programme