Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Bhutan

WFP Bhutan Country Brief, April 2020

Attachments

Highlights

WFP is proposing reaching out to approximately 10,000 vulnerable students across the 20 districts of the country with a food basket / Take Home Rations (THR) including fortified commodities like rice and edible oil.

Other assistance on the backdrop of COVID-19 includes providing food safety and quality guidance, publishing a paper on impact of the pandemic on food and nutrition security, food storage capacity support and nutrition community outreach on how to eat and stay healthy during the pandemic.

Operational Updates

  1. In partnership with the Ministry of Education,
    Ministry of Health and UNICEF, WFP is planning to provide nutritious food to students identified by the Government as the most vulnerable through take home rations. These rations will consist of rice and oil fortified with essential vitamins and minerals, and chickpeas and pulses. They will be distributed while implementing appropriate infection prevention control measures.

  2. In support to the Government’s efforts to preposition 20,000 mt food to meet the requirements of 50 percent of the population for about 6 months, WFP is providing technical assistance on food safety and quality to minimize food losses and to preserve the inherent nutritional quality of the food. In this regard, WFP developed various technical guidance documents on food safety & quality, in consultation with relevant government agencies to ensure food safety & quality at the warehouse level, during transportation and distribution via retail stores.

  3. The UN has organised its support to the Government under seven action areas according to the "Protective Shield" with WFP providing coordination support to map national contingency plans for all sectors and coordinate UN assistance to national contingency planning.

  4. WFP has reprogrammed USD 300,000 to support the national Agriculture Stimulus Plan to enhance agriculture production, farmer linkages to markets, setting up a national monitoring system for farmers and documenting value chain models for national scale-up.

  5. WFP is supporting the Royal Government of Bhutan with nutrition information about staying and eating healthy during the pandemic. The messages and education material will target rural communities with a focus on vulnerable population groups such as school children, pregnant women and elderly. The messages are designed to encourage consumption of local, diverse, seasonal and nutritious food. Linkages of nutrition to immunity and WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) will be integrated in the messages.

  6. WFP has developed a policy paper on the impact of COVID-19 on Food and Nutrition Security in Bhutan, to be updated regularly as the situation changes

  7. WFP has supported the Royal Government of Bhutan’s efforts to preposition food (Rice, Pulses & Edible Oil) under the National Food Security Reserve.
    WFP has donated two portable storage facilities to increase the current storage capacity by 1000 mt.
    Funds have been disbursed towards procurement of storage and related equipment

  8. WFP has initiated discussions with the National Bureau of Statistics in terms of using Geopoll and the 72 hours assessment platform to support national assessments and targeting of food assistance