05 February 2002

World Food Program Seeks Continued Afghan Food Aid

Washington -- The head of the World Food Program (WFP) announced on February 5 that the agency is currently able to provide food relief to six million Afghans, but seeks $285 million in funds and food supplies in order to increase its reach to seven and a half million people.

Speaking February 5 at the National Press Club in Washington, WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini said the funds WFP is seeking would provide 544,000 metric tons of food from April through December 2002.

She anticipated the current need for food would grow in the short term as refugees are expected to return to Afghanistan in the spring, but the demand could be reduced later in the year if the country enjoys a normal harvest.

Bertini also reported on her January 29-February 3 trip to Afghanistan, where she viewed relief efforts in Kabul, Herat and Jalalabad.

"One of the most vivid memories that I returned with is the visible enthusiasm of children, girls especially, to go back to school," said Bertini.

As part of its Afghan reconstruction efforts, WFP is encouraging student enrollment and teacher training through its school feeding projects and food assistance, Bertini said.

Bertini reported that a "pent-up interest" in education exists, even before the formal beginning of the school year in March. She visited a girl's school in Jalalabad that had started its classes early, and said the classrooms were so full that students and teachers had to hold additional classes in the courtyard.

Bertini also visited one of the many women-run bakeries in Kabul that were set up by WFP. They provide subsidized bread to several thousand households headed by widows, or where women are the sole source of income, as well as jobs for women without other means of support.

In August 2000, the Taliban ordered the bakeries closed, but rather than comply with the demand, WFP threatened to withdraw its aid workers. The Taliban rescinded its edict, and the bakeries continued to operate.

Bertini said one of the greatest challenges currently facing the WFP is reaching remote mountainous areas. "We have to be sure we are covering the entire country," she said.

To meet this challenge, she reported WFP will hire helicopters to conduct assessments in remote locations, especially mountainous areas. WFP has also hired experts from Canada and Sweden to help move food into snowy, mountainous areas.

Other projects for 2002 include establishing food-for-work projects, such as construction of irrigation canals. WFP also hopes to provide food aid for women who attend literacy and skills training programs, and supply short-term food rations for civil servants who haven't been paid in many months.

Bertini reported that the World Food Program had dramatically increased the number of people it was able to help worldwide over the past four years. As of 2000 it was able to serve 89 million people, an increase of 36 million since 1997.

She said the major reason for the WFP's increased capacity was the influx of funds from the United States, and hoped American generosity would continue in the Bush administration's recent budget proposal.

"It's certainly my hope that the U.S. government will find a way through its new budget proposal to continue to provide food aid at a very high level to reach a high volume of desperately hungry people all around the world," said Bertini.