The European Union donated a million euros to the United Nations World Food Programme to provide vital food aid to nearly 100,000 people in Mauritania during this year’s lean season, WFP said in a statement on Thursday.
The EU funding provided to WFP earlier this year was vital to helping the most vulnerable communities through the crucial June-October period, when people’s food stocks run out and market prices are the highest, limiting people’s access to food, WFP said.
WFP said it had provided monthly cash transfers to vulnerable families in in three hardest-hit regions of Mauritania, allowing them to put food on the table and protect their livelihoods.
“We know we can always count on the generous support of the European Union to reach vulnerable people in need with food assistance,” said Nacer Benalleg, WFP Representative and Country Director in Mauritania.
“We look forward to continuing our partnership to save lives and change lives in Mauritania,” she added.
WFP’s malnutrition treatment and prevention programme also gave young children and pregnant and breastfeeding women nutritious fortified cereals and specialised nutritious foods in Guidimakha, Assaba and Gorgol - areas that face the most severe hunger and malnutrition in Mauritania
“Many families would have sold their assets or gone hungry had they not received WFP assistance. Being able to feed our kids is a relief for me and my husband” said Menna Sabar, a 32-year-old woman who received cash assistance thanks to the EU-funded project.
The families supported by WFP were identified through Mauritania’s unified social registry. This tool, used by WFP and its partners for the first time this year, provides information on households eligible for social support services, boosting the efficiency of the government’s social protection programmes.
