According to World Food Programme (WFP) Sri Lanka Country Brief, August 2016 the WFP emergency operation (EMOP 200990) provided assistance to 6,651 households affected by Cyclone Roanu, while continuing to provide technical support in scaling up the Government’s social safety net scheme, Divineguma, for future use in emergencies. Due to funding shortages, a distribution in the supply of Super Cereal Plus will force a suspension in the treatment of children aged 6-59 months who suffer moderate acute malnutrition.

Operational Updates

• EMOP 200990: Through an ECHO contribution of USD 277,000, WFP and the Government of Sri Lanka will provide cash assistance for 5,000 new people.
• WFP Headquarters and the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific will field a scoping mission in Sri Lanka in support of the Ministry of Disaster Management’s 72-Hour Emergency Needs Assessment System and simulation exercise.
• The United Nations, the EU and the World Bank support the Ministry of Disaster Management and the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs in a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment in the aftermath of Cyclone Roanu. WFP and FAO co-led and completed the analysis on the food security and agriculture sectors.
• With a grant of the Alwaleed bin Talal Foundation – Global, WFP and the local authorities of the Northern and Uva provinces are working to formulate three projects on integrated nutrition sensitive interventions. Thus, nutrition baselines, outcomes and indicators will guide the targeting, design and implementation of multi-sectoral interventions to build community assets and improve livelihood opportunities.
• WFP supported the National Youth Model United Nations Conference, advocating for the importance of food security and nutrition among 200 youth representatives from all provinces of Sri Lanka through the SDGF project.
• WFP received a formal request from the Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine to support in developing a nutritious food product using the locally available formulas for the treatment of moderate acute malnutrition among children under five and pregnant and nursing women.
• The Sustainable Development Goal Fund Secretariat approved the joint WFP-FAO project progress report and budget revisions, and released the transfer of the second tranche of funds to FAO and WFP.

(Reliefweb)