WFP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific - 2016 SPRs RBB 2016 SPRs by country | Page 133

Standard Project Report 2016
northern Bangladesh) which includes teacher trainings, extra-curricular activities, school gardens, de-worming,
establishment of reading corners, development of wall magazines and organization of cooking demonstrations and
aims to improve literacy of school-age children as well as health and dietary practices. Apart from the operational
support, technical assistance to the Ministry to initiate preparation of the National School Feeding Policy and
Strategy was a priority engagement for WFP in 2016.
Component 3: Enhancing resilience to natural disasters and the effects of climate change (ER/ER+)
Strategic Objective 3: Reduce risk and enable people, communities and countries to meet their own food and
nutrition needs.
Through the Enhancing Resilience to Natural Disasters and the Effects of Climate Change (ER) programme,
participants, the majority of them women, worked to construct or repair community assets and took part in
comprehensive training sessions in return for compensation with cash (cash assistance for assets and cash
assistance for training, respectively). Women from participating households benefitted from a one-off cash grant for
investment in income-generating activities (IGA), a monthly living allowance and follow-up support. The Government
directly funded 95 percent of the IGA participants and WFP provided technical support to enhance the quality of
services.
For emergency distributions under ER, WFP had originally planned to distribute specialised nutritious foods, rice,
oil, fortified biscuits and cash but ultimately only rice and cash were distributed, which accounted for the
over-distribution of cash and under-distribution of food for this component.
Component 4: Strengthening government safety nets.
Strategic Objective 4: Reduce undernutrition and break the inter-generational cycle of hunger.
The Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) programme is the longest standing social safety net programme in
Bangladesh. WFP has supported the Government in implementing VGD since its initiation in 1974. VGD aims to
improve the food security of ultra-poor women and their households through life skills and awareness training and
income generation support. It is now entirely run and funded by the Government (since 2011) with technical support
from WFP to help it enhance implementation standards. The investment component of VGD (ICVGD) is a pilot
aiming to support women with a cash grant for investment, rations of fortified rice and additional training, thus
combining income and nutrition support for enhanced sustainability.
The Enhancing Food Security (EFS) programme empowered vulnerable women to engage in economic activities to
achieve food security, building on best practices for social safety nets. WFP distributed a monthly subsistence
allowance which covered essential household consumption needs, while women invested their one-off cash grants
in IGAs. This scheme is supported by skills trainings, the formation of ‘self-help’ women’s groups, and BCC to
facilitate women’s economic and social empowerment with a focus on improved nutrition practices, implemented
through WFP-contracted partners. BCC was a substantial cross-cutting activity delivered in various formats across
all programme interventions that aimed to harmonise messages on nutrition. Disaster risk reduction
was mainstreamed across the interventions to ensure the activity’s sustainability. EFS formed part of an integrated
approach, which included school feeding and IMCN in the same community project areas. The integrated package
aimed to address the underlying causes of food insecurity and undernutrition in Cox’s Bazar district.
Bangladesh, People's Republic of (BD)
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Country Programme - 200243