Africa-Press – Lesotho. The World Food Programme (WFP) has announced the financial assistance from the European Union (EU) which is envisaged to offer assistance to the vulnerable people.
The financial assistance will cushion those affected by drought and the COVID-19 pandemic which has compromised their economic statuses. This is according
to the statement released by WFP on Monday this week. “The United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes European Union’s (EU) contribution of
€2.8 million (M55.5 million) to provide much needed relief assistance to the
most vulnerable people in Lesotho affected by three consecutive years of drought and socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,” reads WFP’s statement in pertinent part.
““We thank the EU for their continuous support to the emergency response operations WFP is
rolling out across the country to complement the government’s COVID-19 Food Security Response Plan. ““WFP’s operations in Lesotho are only 23 percent funded and require an additional €18.5 million
to assist community affected by emergency levels of food insecurity and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,”” said Aurore Rusiga WFP’s Country Director.
WFP further highlighted that the EU’s contribution could not have come at a right time, as it will buttress food insecurity challenges. ““We decided with
our partners from the Lesotho Government and UN agencies that we should focus on alleviating the socio-economic hardships experienced by Basotho citizens to
the pandemic as well as necessary lockdown. ““We are aware that people in urban and peri-urban areas who lost their jobs or businesses have been particularly hard hit, and want to contribute to mitigating their
suffering as a consequence of the pandemic,” said EU Ambassador to Lesotho Dr. Christian Manahl. There are about 80, 000 beneficiaries set for financial and food assistance “to ensure they have access to nutritious and healthy food”. WFP is the United Nations (UN) agency which is mandated to carry out humanitarian work.
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