Food aid – risk reduction and crisis prevention

Combating undernourishment and malnutrition is a priority for the SDC. With food aid, it uses humanitarian resources to save lives and alleviate suffering.

The SDC's focus

As a contracting party to the Food Assistance Convention, Switzerland provides food aid and contributes to improving global food security. In this area, Swiss Humanitarian Aid works closely with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and NGOs in particular. In 2018, Swiss contributions to the WFP totalled over CHF 75 million and benefited some 27 countries. Over 50% of the contributions addressed hunger crises in Africa, with the rest being spent in the Middle East, Asia, as well as Haiti and Colombia.

In recent years, the Swiss Confederation's food aid programme with Swiss dairy products has been converted into a new, more flexible arrangement, with the aim of reaching as many people in need as possible. In 2017, the SDC supported programmes run by 20 NGOs and three Swiss representations in 16 countries by supplying milk powder worth CHF 7 million from Switzerland. A further CHF 13 million went to the WFP. From 2018, all the funding is being channelled to the WFP. For Algeria and North Korea, where milk powder is the best means of intervention, the WFP purchased the products in Switzerland at the export price.

In addition, compensation of CHF 7 million is earmarked to support nutrition projects in the current dispatch period (2017–20). This money is primarily intended for NGOs that previously received support in the form of milk powder supplies from Switzerland.

Background

Over 820 million people in the world are undernourished. The deterioration in the global food situation is predominantly due to long-running conflicts, often exacerbated by climate shocks such as droughts and floods. The worst-affected areas are conflict zones in sub-Saharan Africa, including Somalia, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and north-eastern Nigeria, as well as Yemen and the wider Middle East. People in these countries are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and rely on food aid.

The WFP works mainly with cash payments. These are used to promote the marketing of locally produced food, with the recipients free to choose how this is done.

The international community is increasingly trying to boost the crisis preparedness of people at risk of hunger, by means of targeted action.

Current projects

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2023 Annual Allocation to WFP Country Strategic Plans

01.01.2023 - 31.12.2023

Against historic levels of food security due to conflicts, climate change and COVID-19, Switzerland supports annually in 28 SDC priority countries operations of the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide humanitarian and development assistance. It funds indistinctively Country Strategic Plans, incorporating all WFP programmes or projects, based on affected population needs and potential synergies with other local partners, especially national governments and civil society.


WFP, Hurrican Ian Response, Cuba

01.12.2022 - 31.05.2024

Hurricane Ian has caused significant losses in the agricultural and fishing sector limiting the availability and access to food and affecting the livelihoods of the population in the provinces Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Mayabeque and Isla de la Juventud. With its contribution to the World Food Programme through the United Nations Plan of Action, SDC helps providing food assistance and restore food production and livelihoods to meet the needs of 798’000 severely affected people in those provinces.


Appui aux ménages en situation d’ultra-pauvreté à Belle-Anse, Sud-Est Haiti

15.11.2022 - 31.05.2024

Près de 10% de la population haïtienne vit en ultra-pauvreté. Avec sa contribution au programme Chemen lavi Miyò (CLM), la Suisse répond aux besoins humanitaires et de relèvement en appuyant 200 ménages dans le Sud-Est pour les faire sortir de l’ultra-pauvreté. L’approche capitalise sur l’expérience de la Suisse et ses partenaires en Haïti et vise à réduire les inégalités, l’insécurité alimentaire et la vulnérabilité aux catastrophes naturelles.


WFP Additional Contributions 2022 to Support WFP’s Drought Response in Ethiopia

01.01.2022 - 31.12.2022

Against historic levels of food security due to conflicts, climate change and COVID 19, Switzerland supports annually in 28 SDC priority countries operations of the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide humanitarian and development assistance. It funds indistinctively Country Strategy Plans, incorporating all WFP programmes or projects, based on affected population needs and potential synergies with other local partners, especially national governments and civil society.


RBCM - Solidar Suisse Resilience Building in Central Mozambique

01.12.2021 - 30.06.2023

After having provided emergency relief and recovery support (response to Idai 2019, Chalane 2020, Eloise 2021), Solidar Suisse is assisting climate change and conflict related displaced persons and host communities in Central Mozambique with durable solutions mainly in the sectors of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), housing, and agricultural production, thus increasing resilience and enabling the beneficiaries to resume a normal life.


COVID-19 Prevention and Resilience

01.07.2021 - 30.06.2023

The second wave of the COVID-19 virus has affected Bangladesh more intensely than the initial phase, impeding socioeconomic recovery and reiterating the importance of resilience building. This programme aims at engaging communities to curb the further spread of COVID-19 and enhancing socioeconomic resilience. Drawing upon Switzerland’s long-standing experience in providing rapid response and working on inclusive and sustainable development, it focuses on the disadvantaged segments of the population. 


Rural Resilience in Southern Africa / R4 Initiative

01.07.2021 - 30.06.2025

The R4 Rural Resilience Initiative for Southern Africa enables smallholder farmers’ adaptation to climate risk through improved resource management, insurance, livelihoods diversification, microcredit and savings. Through R4, Switzerland has become a credible and trusted partner in resilience building and its learnings have fed into policy dialogue. The emphasis of this final phase is on strengthening government and private sector, as well as the gender approach.  


Programme de renforcement de la résilience des ménages pastoraux et agropastoraux face aux crises climatiques et à l'insécurité (RESILIA) Phase 1

01.06.2020 - 31.12.2024

la DDC contribue au renforcement de la résilience de plus de 700’000 personnes dont les déplacées internes, affectées par la crise sécuritaire et les changements climatiques au Burkina Faso. Se basant sur la riche expérience de la Suisse dans l’élevage pastoral au Sahel, le programme va soutenir les pasteurs et agropasteurs pour que leur pratique d’élevage et moyens de subsistance s’adaptent aux défis climatiques et améliorent leurs conditions de vie tout en favorisant la paix au Burkina Faso.


COVID-19 Preparedness and Relief

01.06.2020 - 31.05.2022

The proposed interventions support the Government of Bangladesh in its efforts to fight against the further spread of COVID-19 and to address the socio-economic consequences for the Bangladeshi people, in particular for disadvantaged groups. Access to information, provision of safe water and food or cash support are among the key outputs. The long-standing experience of Switzerland and its implementing partners in various sectors of public life and trusted relationships with national and local governments add value to the intervention.


Réponse à la crise alimentaire en Afrique de l’Ouest dans le cadre du COVID19

01.06.2020 - 30.09.2023

La  soudure de juin à septembre 2020 s’annonçait déjà très difficile au plan alimentaire pour les populations de l’Afrique de l’Ouest. La crise liée au COVID19 les plonge immédiatement dans une crise alimentaire particulièrement grave. La DDC soutient d’une part, le Programme Alimentaire Mondial (PAM) pour fournir des vivres aux populations et d’autre part, le Réseau d’éleveurs Billital Maroobe (RBM) pour apporter assistance aux populations pastorales et renforcer leur résilience.


SDC BRAC Social Cohesion Fund for Cox’s Bazar District

01.04.2020 - 30.09.2024

This fund strengthens social cohesion in Cox’s Bazar by mitigating the negative consequences of the refugee influx on the most vulnerable segments of the local population. It will strategically upscale projects of BRAC, the biggest Bangladeshi NGO, through a series of medium-term contributions, adapted to the volatile context and emerging needs. The first two projects will support over 60’000 poor people to claim their rights and obtain legal redress and place 4’500 poor people in gainful employment. The intervention complements the engagement of Swiss Humanitarian Aid.


SomReP - Somalia Resilience Program

01.04.2020 - 30.09.2023

In the fragile and conflict affected context of Somalia, SDC’s contribution to the Somalia Resilience Programme Consortium enables pastoral, agro-pastoral, displaced persons and peri-urban poor to increase their ability to prepare for, adapt to and live through shocks without eroding their productivity or assets. Focusing on capacity building, livelihood diversification and the elaboration of community-based early warning systems, this initiative is complementary to ongoing efforts of government of Somalia and international community to build resilience of communities to climate shocks.

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