Kathmandu: The Executive Board of the United Nations World Food Programme, on 24 October in Rome approved the extension of the Protracted Relief and recovery Operation (PRRO) No. 6151.00 – “Assistance to Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal” for a total cost to WFP of US$3.6 million during a period of six months, strating from 1 January 2001. The PRRO was approved on the basis of the findings of the joint WFP/UNHCR Assessment Mission, which visited Nepal in May 2000 and on the subsequent recommendations of the WFP Executive Director, Ms Catherine Bertini, according to WFP press statement released today.
Depending on the availability of food resources from donor countries, under the extension phase of the operation, WFP plans to provide a total of 9,323 tons of food commodities that includes 7,200 tons of rice, 1,059 tons of pulses, 447 tons of fortified vegetable oil, 123 tons of fortified blended food, 362 tons of sugar and 132 tons of iodized salt.
WFP assistance will provide basic food rations to 97,940 registered Bhutanese refugees residing in seven camps in the districts of Jhapa and Morang in the eastern region of Nepal, as well as supplementary food rations for malnourished refugee children under five years of age, pregnant women and nursing mothers for up to six months, tuberculosis patients and sick and elderly persons. Additionally, WFP will introduce a targeted school-based supplementary feeding programme for 38,000 school-going children during three months of the dry season, from March to May.
WFP will also be distributing basic food commodities through the Nepal Red Cross Society and self-organised refugee camp structures. The newly introduced school-based supplementary feeding will be implemented through CARITAS and the Camp Management Committees and will continue the supplementary feeding programme for vulnerable groups through the responsible agency. The distribution of food commodities will be carried out under the supervision of WFP staff based in the Damak Field Office, as well as Birtamod central warehouse.
The operation will continue to be implemented in close coordination with His Majesty’s Government of Nepal and with UNHCR and other partner NGOs such as CARITAS and the Lutheran World Federation. WFP is a ‘voluntary contribution’ agency of the UN system and all contributions to WFP’s operations are based on donor support and resource availability, the WFP release said.
A Letter of Understanding was signed on 24 November 2000, between Mr Narayan Shumshere Thapa, Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the WFP representative in Nepal, Mr Douglas Casson Coutts. Coutts spoke on the continuing WFP assistance for the Bhutanese refugees since 1992, under a series of six emergency operations and four protracted refugee operations, at a total cost of US$ 58.9 million at the end of 2000. Including the aid under the extension of the current phase, WFP assistance to the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal will sum up to US$ 62.5 million during the 9.5 year period. The entire aid was provided on grant basis, the WFP said.