New Zealand
Lesotho
Providing emergency food to malnourished children
Lesotho is 1 of 7 countries in southern Africa (including Angola) currently experiencing an acute food shortage caused by 2 successive crop failures and in the case of Angola, decades of war. Across the region, an estimated 17 million people are affected. The situation has been made worse by high rates of HIV/AIDS—up to 31% of the population in Lesotho are HIV positive. Increased malnutrition caused by the food crisis is weakening the resistance of people infected by HIV to other infections and reducing the workforce available for agricultural work.
Save the Children is working with the World Food Programme and the Government of Lesotho to improve the effectiveness of food distributions, so that the most vulnerable children and their families are identified, and receive food aid.
Save the Children has a long history of involvement in Lesotho, but there are very few NGO’s working in the country. The Government lacks knowledge and capacity to ensure food aid is targeted at the right people. Save the Children is using its expertise and experience to train government staff and NGO partners on how to conduct effective food aid distributions. In 2003 a major success was the production of a "Child and Community Focused Handbook for Targeting and Monitoring Food Distribution." The guidelines contained in the Handbook will be advocated in 2004 and monitored by Save the Children and the Disaster Management Authority.
An estimated 300 village distribution committees are currently receiving training in the participation of children and women in the food distribution process. Committees will be empowered to understand, prevent and respond to child rights violations occurring within the distribution cycle.
Save the Children will also train government staff and NGO partners on how to keep children and young people safe from predatory personnel who demand or request sex in exchange for food aid. The landmark study by the UNHCR and SCUK in West Africa in early 2002 indicated high risks of transactional sex between aid workers and young women. Child protection is now an integral aspect of any Save the Children emergency response programme.
These training programmes encourage the local community to take ownership of the new distribution system and independently apply its principles in future.
Save the Children New Zealand's partners in this project are Save the Children UK and NZAID.