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Nicaragua

WFP Nicaragua Country Brief, August 2020

Attachments

In Numbers

USD 68.4 m total requirements

184,450 people assisted August 2020

Operational Updates

• In August, tropical storms and heavy rains hit the Northern Atlantic Caribbean Coast Region (RACCN), causing flooding and ruining harvests, which are communities’ primary food source. WFP activated the rapid mapping service and is supporting the Government of Nicaragua in the implementation of a rapid emergency assessment to evaluate the impact of the event among the affected population.

• WFP provided Nicaragua’s National System for Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Response (SINAPRED) with technical support to assess the capacities of their Disaster Operation units at the municipal level. This included support in the design and implementation of innovative visualization tools for risk mapping. This tool will enable informed decision-making to improve early warning systems.

COVID-19 response

• As of August, the Government has reported 4,668 cases, including 141 deceased people.
WFP has increased protection measures to ensure operational continuity and safeguard beneficiaries’ health and well-being while responding to their food security needs.

• As schools remain open, WFP continues supporting the implementation of the national school feeding programme, by delivering school meals to over 183,450 pre-and primary children in some of the poorest and most remote areas of the country, with limited infrastructure, rampant poverty, and high prevalence of indigenous communities.

• During August, WFP Nicaragua continued to assist farmers organizations in the adoption of COVID-19 preventive measures to contain the risks of the pandemic. Besides, it continued remote training on crop cultivation, postharvest handling, entrepreneurial skills, gender equality and climate-resilient agriculture. Based on identified needs, WFP supplied agricultural inputs and tools including water purification filters and storage tanks that smallholder farmers can use to minimize the impact of climate shocks.

Gender

• As part of the partnership with SINAPRED, WFP assisted forming the Inter-Institutional Commission for Integrated Risk Management with a Gender Perspective, including 11 national institutions, aiming to create a space to coordinate and promote a gender-based approach to disaster prevention, mitigation, response and livelihood recovery. It also supported initiatives for capacity strengthening for local women that work with disaster risk reduction authorities, to increase crisis response’s efficacy and sustainability.