Standard Project Report 2016
stunted, 31.5 percent underweight and 15.1 percent wasted [ 2 ]. Pakistan is the second highest malnutrition-burdened country in South Asia after India.
Educational achievement correlates strongly and positively with both individual and household economic outcomes, and economic outcomes and food security typically go hand in hand. The Government of Pakistan has introduced necessary reforms to uplift the educational status of the population, including the devolution of education to provinces and legislation providing for free and compulsory secondary education for all. However, according to Pakistan education statistics in 2014-15, six million children age 5-16 years( primary and secondary school age groups) are out of school. In particular, the fragile education system in FATA suffers from instability and most of the population is illiterate, with an adult literacy rate of 24 percent( with a significant disparity between the female literacy rate of 11 percent and the male literacy rate of 37 percent), and a net enrolment rate for primary schools of 42 percent. The gender parity index for primary schools is 0.74 [ 3 ]. As cultural norms inhibit access to education for girls, particularly at the secondary school level, the gender parity index in FATA for middle schools and high schools, in relation to the net enrolment rate, is 0.30 and 0.19, respectively.
Law enforcement operations in the country ' s north-west continue to hinder progress towards stabilising food and nutrition security in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA regions. The Government remains committed to facilitating and expediting the return of families that have been displaced as a result of the military operations in FATA through its return and rehabilitation strategy. Health and education infrastructure in the conflict-affected regions of FATA has also been damaged and is in critical need of recovery assistance.
[ 1 ] A joint report report by WFP Pakistan and the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform. [ 2 ] According to National Nutrition Survey( NNS) 2011.
[ 3 ] The gender parity index is the ratio of the number of female students enrolled at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education compared to the number of male students at each level.
Response of the Government and Strategic Coordination
Pakistan aims to become one of the top 25 economies of the world by 2025 and be in the top 10 by 2047. In order to achieve this, the Government developed its Vision 2025 strategy in 2014. This strategy links the Government ' s development plan with the Millennium Development Goals( MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals( SDGs), and commits the Government to reducing the proportion of the population that is food-insecure from 60 to 30 percent. In order to achieve this, the commitment to food and nutrition security continues to be an important area of focus for the Government. This is exemplified by their continued support to WFP ' s relief assistance in the country ' s north-west through their in-kind contribution of 124,000 mt of wheat in 2016. Since 2013, the Government of Pakistan has contributed nearly 700,000 mt of wheat to WFP, worth USD 267 million. In addition, the Government is finalising its national food security policy and has invested significant efforts in integrating food security-related initiatives in all sectoral policies including education, health and social protection.
The Government is making significant efforts to overcome issues related to poverty and food insecurity by expanding social protection programmes, including the Benazir Income Support Programme( BISP). Negative growth in the agriculture sector – the largest employment sector in the economy – during 2015-16, and unprecedented changes in rain patterns have increased farmers ' level of vulnerability. The Government initiated a special farmers ' relief package worth PKR 341 billion to improve productivity and help smallholder farmers to diversify their means of production. Although significant efforts are being made on the part of the Government to tackle the key challenges to stabilising food and nutrition security across the country, the implementation of a holistic multi-sectoral response that simultaneously combats all critical problems continues to be an unfulfilled need.
WFP Pakistan began the implementation of its new three-year programme of work in 2016 under PRRO 200867, which continued to situate all programmes in line with the development priorities of the Government of Pakistan. All activities under this project were endorsed by the federal and provincial governments and were implemented either in collaboration with, or directly through, relevant line departments at the provincial and district levels. Provincial annual work plans were also prepared in consultation with the relevant line departments. WFP also signed a Memorandum of Understanding( MOU) with the National Disaster Management Authority, Provincial level departments of Planning and Development and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas( FATA) Secretariat.
WFP ' s collaboration with the Government in 2016 was instrumental in achieving the desired programmatic outcomes in the areas of emergency response, recovery support and nutrition assistance. During the year, WFP continued to support the National Zero Hunger initiative, the Scaling Up Nutrition( SUN) movement and the National and Provincial Fortification Alliances. WFP was also engaged in the Government ' s food security and nutrition-related evidence-based assessments and analyses for informed programming and policy decision-making.
Pakistan, Islamic Republic of( PK) 4 Single Country PRRO- 200867