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The German government has granted 13 million euros (about 13.9 million US dollars) to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to support its humanitarian activities in Mozambique this year.
The German Embassy in Maputo announced the grant on Wednesday. The main purpose of the aid, channeled through the German Development Bank (KfW), is to support the WFP’s work in assisting victims of the 2016 drought, and in providing school meals in drought-affected areas.
According to the latest estimates, until the first harvests of 2017 can be gathered (in March/April) about 2.3 million Mozambicans will continue to need food aid.
With the German grant, the WFP can supply food aid to around 250,000 people. For about 150,000 of these beneficiaries, this will be food for work, in that they will be expected to assist their communities in building and repairing community assets. This is intended to strengthen community resilience to future shocks.
“These measures will be accompanied by training in agricultural techniques and in management of livestock resources”, says the Embassy’s note. “All these measures seek to prepare the local population to be better prepared for future extreme climatic events”.
The grant also supports the National School Meals Programme. The German support will go towards meals for about 100,000 pupils in the most drought-affected regions of the southern provinces of Gaza and Inhambane.
It is hoped that this measure will persuade children who dropped out of school in 2016 to return to classes this year.
“Providing pupils with meals increases the level of enrollment, increases school attendance and reduces the dropout rate”, the Embassy says. “Children can concentrate and learn better when their energy needs are met. WFP monitoring shows that feeding children at school gives them the opportunity to fight against the paths of poverty”.
“This is a further substantial sign of German solidarity with Mozambique”, said German ambassador Detlev Wolter, cited in the statement. “The German Federal government wants to support Mozambique’s efforts to deal with the effects of the drought, and to strengthen the resilience of the population in the event of future natural disasters. Furthermore Germany is supporting improvement in the conditions of education in the affected areas”.
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