USAID and UN agencies visit portsudan, commend the cooperation with government 

Khartoum, 6-7-2021 (SUNA)-A mission comprising the World Food Programme (WFP), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) paid a visit to Port Sudan, where they received a vessel carrying some 34 thousands metric tones of sorghum from the US government via the WFP, and toured feeding centers run by UNICEF in the State

Marianne Ward, WFP Deputy Country Director of Operations, has commended the Governor of the Red Sea state Abdallah Shangrai, for hosting USAID, WFP and UNICEF for the mission, and even more so, for facilitating WFP’s efforts to provide critical humanitarian and transitional assistance in Red Sea state, and acting as an entry point to deliver life-saving and life-changing assistance to the farthest corners of Sudan and other neighboring countries, including South Sudan, Ethiopia and the Central African Republic.

“We also take this as a cue to thank USAID, in its capacity as the largest donor to WFP Sudan. This year alone, we have received a contribution of USD 219.9M, consisting of both confirmed and ongoing packages, towards both life-saving and life-changing assistance.” she said in a statement to the Sudan news agency SUNA following the tour and inspection of the offloading of the sorghum and the fields visit to centers for prevision of assistance to children and mothers, managed by the UNICEF.

She added that in particular, this trip marks the receipt of as much as 33,900MT of in-kind contribution of sorghum from USAID to support WFP delivery of much needed general food assistance until the end of the year.

“Contribution such as these are instrumental to ensuring we provide consistent and uninterrupted support to the most vulnerable of the Sudanese population.” she underlined.

Ms Ward said their bases in Port Sudan are critical for several reasons— as the logistical support provided by the field office is responsible for arranging all customs clearances, processing shipping documentation, supporting all bulk, break bulk and containerized vessel discharge, and enabling direct delivery of commodities overland and warehousing within Port Sudan.

“Without both your generous advocacy and contribution to our operations at Port, much of what we do in the front lines of emergency assistance and growing portfolio of development interventions would not have been possible.: he commended

During last year alone, we handled as much as 228,500MT of assorted items, part of which was the USAID contribution of nearly 66,000MT of wheat to the Government of Sudan.

“In addition to this, we also managed intake of nearly 240,000MT of wheat for the Government of Sudan through the Port. Of this, WFP is currently processing the release of approximately 37,000MT wheat purchased from Sayga silos. “ she added, saying that this year, this Field Office has tackled nearly 103,750MT, some of which included delivery of much needed wheat into Ethiopia amid the Tigray Crisis.

This was premised on their structural and systemic work to rehabilitate nearly 12km of railway tracks between North Station and the Green Terminal, which now extends to a proposed (re)construction of key segments of the railway network from all the way from Port Sudan to Nyala. “Even to that end, Port Sudan marks our point of departure from connecting the rest of Sudan to and strengthening any value chain and service delivery.”

She said their operations in Red Sea remains heavily critical given its high levels of aridity, successive cycles of drought since the mid-1980s and high rates of malnutrition.

“Notably, a dramatic deterioration of food security in the Gabiet Al Maddien locality makes this state central to our emergency food distribution. Meanwhile, across its 96 nutrition centers statewide, we offer an integrated screening, treatment and prevention package across the first 1,000 days of a child’s life to prevent irreversible physical and cognitive damages. “ she said.

This state marks one of the first locations where WFP also launched a conditional cash-based transfer initiative for families of female schoolchildren, to enhance school retention and attendance for girls, as part of WFP’s nationwide school feeding program.

Meanwhile, in order to build resilience of local communities against shocks, the WFP continues to support them create and/or rebuild community assets during the lean season and work with smallholder farmers to improve net agricultural productivity through prevention of post-harvest losses.

“And, in so much of what we do in Sudan, UNICEF remains a constant and complementary partner, starting from our joint nutrition intervention we observed at the Ahmed Gasim Health Center to engagements we partake in together on a much more global scale.” Ward said

She said in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, WFP and UNICEF have been working together to track the global cohort of children to help national governments devise means to support them during the crisis and ensure that when schools do reopen, adequate health and nutrition services are provided as incentives for the most vulnerable children to return to school.

“We have also launched a new partnership framework to enact a paradigm shift placing a stronger emphasis on prevention, and accelerating actions for early detection and treatment of wasted children.” WFP official said.

She concluded that “we cannot stress enough the importance of working together as a unified United Nations, bolstered by goodwill from the Government of Sudan, and contributing donors such as USAID. And, with our shared mandate around the Sustainable Development Goals, we strive together to also achieve Zero Hunger.”

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Source: SUNA