WFP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific - 2016 SPRs RBB 2016 SPRs by country | Page 864

Standard Project Report 2016
Project Activities
The project aimed to prevent an increase in acute malnutrition in the three targeted municipalities—Baucau, Lautem
and Viqueque—by providing specialised nutritious foods (SNF) to 11,750 children aged 6-23 months and 8,900
pregnant and lactating women (PLW) for a period of three months.
Distribution of the SNF, as well as community mobilisation and health promotion, were due to begin in November
2016. However, there were significant delays in sourcing Plumpy'Doz, the ready-to-use supplementary food (RUSF)
to prevent acute malnutrition for children, as a result of the high number of global emergencies in 2016. As a result,
Plumpy'Doz did not arrive in-country until December. In addition, the production of 25 mt of Timor Vita, the
locally-sourced Super Cereal was delayed, and only a small quantity was available for distribution in
December through local health facilities.
Delays in the production of Timor Vita occurred despite the fact that WFP ordered the SNF in September and
received assurances from the supplier, Timor Global, that it would be able to fill the order. However, as a result
of difficulties in sourcing sufficient local quantities of raw materials combined with poor production
planning, production was delayed. Alternative SNFs to Timor Vita were not available as the Ministry of
Health restricted WFP's importing of Super Cereal for PLW. As a result of these challenges, WFP and the Ministry
of Health began distributing the SNF, Plumpy'Doz, to children, along with a smaller than planned amount of Timor
Vita for women, in late December. WFP worked with municipal and village level health facilities to distribute the
SNF and increase health facility staff's skills in providing nutrition education.
Under this emergency operation, WFP also conducted orientation sessions on the use of the nationally approved
nutrition education messages and materials. In addition, local community leaders and voluntary health promoters in
one municipality were invited to support the programme in their villages in order to raise the awareness of men and
families on the use of the SNF, and particularly the importance of good nutrition for PLW and for the first 1,000 days
of a child's life. This activity was driven by the fact that WFP's monitoring of its treatment programme indicated low
levels of awareness in the community on these issues, particularly amongst men.
WFP also partnered with local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to plan nutrition education
through activities designed to reach women and men, community groups and community leaders. These education
sessions will begin in January 2017 to coincide with the distribution of greater volumes of SNF. The NGOs will
mobilise communities to attend the health facilities and receive the SNF, and will conduct health promotion on good
infant and young child feeding practices (IYCF), breastfeeding, and nutrition during and after pregnancy. The
objective of these activities is to increase community awareness of nutrition and good health practices.
Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of (TL)
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Single Country IR-EMOP - 201017