Memoire Online - International humanitarian food aid in the north-south cooperation: the case of cameroon

The EU (European Commission and Member States) provided over a quarter of WFP's overall contributions in both 2011 and 2012. EU Member States' contributions amounted €829,2 million, while European Commission was €301,2 million. The European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), created in 1962, is geared towards increasing agricultural productivity and food self-sufficiency. Through a combination of farm price supports and barriers to food imports, the CAP generated massive surpluses, especially wheat and animal products, which made the EU and its member states majors actors in the international food trade and food aid.

WFP welcomes the European Commission's October 2012 Communication, The EU Approach to Resilience: Learning from Food Security Crises, and acknowledges the EU as the driving force behind two important regional initiatives: SHARE (Supporting Horn of Africa Resilience) and AGIR (Global Alliance for Resilience Initiative - Sahel). These initiatives aim to link short and long-term responses to emergencies, break the cycle of humanitarian crises and help people survive and regain their livelihoods.

Contributions from the EC are channelled through the EC's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection office (ECHO) and through DEVCO - the development assistance arm of the EU.

The Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection directorate, ECHO, and its development and cooperation directorate, EuropeAid, are in agreement with WFP that resilience aims to help individuals, communities and regions avoid hunger. This involves helping populations develop the tools not only for rapid recovery, but also to withstand shocks. In future, communities

International humanitarian food aid in the North-South cooperation: the case of Cameroon 2014

should be able to focus on dealing with chronic issues rather than having them escalate into acute disasters.

The EC's strong operational support to WFP is accompanied by an equally significant policy component. WFP and the EC meet annually to prioritize joint activities based on WFP's 2008-2013 Strategic Plan. In 2010, both WFP and the EC agreed to prioritize for 2011 the implementation of WFP's innovative hunger solution tools such as cash and voucher programmes. Other priorities will include the nutritional components of food assistance, collaboration in the area of linking relief, rehabilitation and development, and measuring impact and outcomes in humanitarian operations.

ECHO supported WFP operations in more than 30 countries including the response following the earthquake in Haiti, the floods in Pakistan and the Sahel food security emergency. In these crises, WFP food assistance helped meet the basic nutritional needs of the affected population, particularly those of women and children.

In the immediate aftermath of the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, WFP responded with massive food distributions, reaching over 4 million people by mid-April. Following the initial response, WFP, in collaboration with Haitian authorities, supported recovery efforts by targeting the populations most at risk. With financial support from ECHO, nutritional supplements were distributed in earthquake-affected areas to children between 6 months and almost 5 years and to pregnant and nursing mothers. ECHO funding also covered meals for school-age children, nutrition interventions to prevent acute malnutrition, and food- and cash-for-work activities. On the logistics front, ECHO's funding to UNHAS - the UN humanitarian Air Service operated by WFP on behalf of the entire humanitarian community- enabled WFP to charter

International humanitarian food aid in the North-South cooperation: the case of Cameroon 2014

specialized aircrafts to airlift cargo and personnel to bring assistance to the hard-to-reach areas in Haiti.

Within 24 hours of the devastating floods that hit Pakistan in August, ECHO's financial support helped WFP provide relief food assistance to almost 7 million people. This crucial support helped many households maintain adequate food consumption levels and prevented nutritional deficiencies among infants and young children. WFP also helped affected communities restore their livelihoods and assets through food- and cash-for-work activities. In those areas where markets continued to function but prices were too high for people to afford, WFP piloted a cash project as an alternative to the distribution of food rations. This project enabled beneficiaries to withdraw small amounts of cash at local established bank points. The assistance that ECHO provided to WFP's logistical support activities allowed UNHAS helicopters to be deployed to areas with the greatest emergency needs. It also facilitated WFP - as lead of the Logistics Cluster - to provide the humanitarian community with boats, hovercraft and tractor trailers to reach the most vulnerable.

Across the Sahel belt of West Africa, drought and erratic rains caused meager harvests and severe water shortages forcing the local populations to depend largely on international aid. In Chad, ECHO funding helped WFP provide food for Sudanese refugees, internally displaced persons, and host populations in Eastern Chad as well as for the refugees from the Central African Republic living in Southern Chad. WFP intensified its activities to prevent malnutrition by providing supplementary food assistance to support all children aged between 6-29 months and pregnant and lactating women. In close collaboration with partners and health authorities, WFP used ECHO funding to establish and run nutrition centres. In addition, in Chad and in the rest of the East/West African Region UNHAS played a pivotal role in providing air transportation to the entire humanitarian community.

International humanitarian food aid in the North-South cooperation: the case of Cameroon 2014

ECHO's contribution to WFP Aviation - the third largest donor in 2010 - helped reach millions of vulnerable people who otherwise would have been without vital assistance. In addition, for the first time in 2010, DEVCO through its local delegation, contributed to WFP Aviation. The funding directed to Afghanistan UNHAS provided a safe, efficient and cost effective air transport service to the humanitarian community while, at the same time, contributed to the development and reconstruction of the country.

- building new UN Humanitarian Response Depots (UNHRD) facilities in Accra, Panama and Sebang, strategic locations that allow WFP to respond immediately to emergency situations and encourage coordination among humanitarian actors;

- setting up the UNHRD network and procurement of emergency equipment to be pre-positioned by WFP;

- providing funding for a humanitarian relief stock of shelter and medicines/medical supplies available for NGOs.

Politicians across the European Union recognise that rapid emergency assistance not only saves lives, but also helps to protect resilience investments and reduce any reversal of development gains. This partially explains why 2012 was a record year for contributions to WFP from the European Commission. In 2011 and 2012, the EU supported many WFP operations, among them: droughts in the Sahel and Horn of Africa; flooding in Pakistan and Benin; conflict in Mali, Yemen and Syria; emergency food aid in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea; high food prices. The European Union helped initiate the Food Security Cluster, a coordination and partnership mechanism for emergencies. As WFP Aviation's number one donor in 2011, support from the ECHO enabled the UN

International humanitarian food aid in the North-South cooperation: the case of Cameroon 2014

Humanitarian Air Service to ferry humanitarian cargo and aid workers quickly to isolated communities in the most inaccessible places. ECHO funding for two helicopters in Uganda provided strategic responses to emergencies all across Africa, and even as far away as Pakistan. These helicopters also facilitated WFP's life-saving assistance in border regions of South Sudan, after renewed fighting there in 2012.

The European Commission has also funded WFP assistance to people trapped in `forgotten crises', including the Sahrawi refugees in Algeria, the most food insecure and malnourished in Yemen, and households living in extreme poverty in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh.

UE food aid now accounts for more than half of all European food aid contribution, whereas most member states also operate bilateral food aid programmes separately. Through these two bilateral and multilateral channels, the EU remains the second largest food aid donor since the 1970s. Here is some member states contribution to the WFP in 2011:

International humanitarian food aid in the North-South cooperation: the case of Cameroon 2014

DONOR	TOTAL FOOD AID	FOOD AID CATEGORY (mt)
DONOR	TOTAL FOOD AID	Emergency	Project	Programme
Belgium	6,915	5,165	1,751	-
Denmark	32,274	28,303	3,971	-
France	15,936	15,782	153	-
Germany	69,487	53,703	15,784	-
Ireland	13,532	12,716	816	-
Italy	5,435	2,205	2,483	748
Luxembourg	31,554	24,999	2,499	4,055
Netherlands	64,071	60,737	3,334	-
Norway	15,739	14,048	1,691	-
Spain	33,491	30,397	3,094	-
Sweden	54,121	54,121	-	-
Switzerland	19,669	17,809	1,860	-
United Kingdom	45,068	28,761	16,307	-

EU and the US represent around 80% of the total IFA, the rest being shared by a number of smaller donors.

International humanitarian food aid in the north-south cooperation: the case of cameroon

B- The European Union