Bangkok--Sep 21--WFP Bureau for Asia
People who have emerged from the vice of a long-running military conflict are in need of humanitarian aid to recover from deep-rooted trauma, both physical and psychological, said a senior official of the United Nations World Food Programme here today.
Following a visit to a remote tribal region in the southeast corner of Bangladesh that was gripped by insurgency and instability for more than 25 years, Sheila Sisulu, WFP Deputy Executive Director, said development aid must be given to free people from the cycle of despair that keeps them from rebuilding their homes, lives and hope.
“In these post-conflict settings, we find people who have lost any hope for the future because as long as they can remember, things only went from bad to worse,” said Sisulu, who travelled to the Chittagong Hills Tract (CHT), where WFP is assisting nearly 15,000 women belonging to ethnic tribes, while making her first official visit to Bangladesh.
“That’s why we are using our aid not just to fight the hunger and malnutrition among them but to restore their dignity and confidence,” Sisulu said. “If people feel they have more control over their lives, they will use the opportunities they have to improve their health, nutrition, education and ability to earn a living.”
On her four-day visit to Bangladesh, Sisulu also attended a distribution of food relief to 550 families in the Manikganj district of eastern Dhaka. Last month, WFP launched a US$74-million emergency operation to help five million people affected by the July and early August floods, which left more than one million people homeless or displaced.
Sisulu noted that flood victims need assistance not only to restore their households but also to acquire skills and assets that will arm them against the next disaster. On average, one third of Bangladesh is flooded every year. “We in the international community must help Bangladesh achieve long-term solutions that will equip the people to cope with the damage that comes every year,” Sisulu said while observing the emergency distribution.
In the Chittagong Hills Tract, Sisulu said she was struck by the sense of empowerment many of the women on WFP assistance are developing. Among the 9,000 women who are working on a rural road maintenance activity, she said, many enjoy a higher status in their community because they are contributing to the well-being of their families.
The women, who are paid for their work in rice by WFP and in cash by the Government of Bangladesh for keeping the roads free of undergrowth, are using their earnings to send their children to school, she noted.
“While some of the women I met were reluctant to talk about the past, they are very pleased with their jobs because they can see a better future for their children,” she said.
The CHT region, peopled by some 12 ethnic tribes who live in uneven terrain, from small valleys to steep hills, opened up only in 1997 when a peace accord was negotiated. WFP works with NGOs and community groups established by local people who have won the acceptance of the people WFP helps.
In addition to rural road maintenance, which increases movement and communications among the tribal people, WFP helps the women learn about health, nutrition, sanitation, family planning, civil rights and the particular dangers for them of malaria, HIV/AIDS and iron-deficiency anaemia. They also learn how to raise livestock, grow crops better or run a small business.
Sisulu emphasised that the people in the CHT suffer from illiteracy, malnutrition and food deprivation at rates alarmingly higher than the national average. More than 70 percent of the households are “ultra-poor,” meaning they earn less than is needed to purchase the minimum daily food requirement of 1,800 calories; in Bangladesh as a whole, that rate is 30 percent.
She noted that because the road work teams comprise women from the various tribal groups as well as Bengalis, a social cohesion is beginning to emerge among them. “We can see the women reaching out to one another across the ethnic divide,” Sisulu said.
WFP, which is considering an expansion of its support in this region, also gives assistance to 5,550 women in the CHT who are enrolled in the Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) programme. Under this, ultra-poor women are given a basic food ration by WFP to free them for a package of training and awareness-raising during a two-year cycle.
WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency. In 2003, we gave food aid to a record 104 million people in 81 countries, including 56 million hungry children.
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For more information please contact:
Douglas Casson Coutts
WFP Representative for Bangladesh
Tel: + 880 2 811 3573
E-mail: [email protected]
Heather Hill
Regional Public Affairs Officer, Asia
Tel: + 662-6554115 ext. 2020
Cell: + 661-7019208
E-mail: [email protected] End.
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