In close partnership with the Palestinian Authority and Food Security Sector partners, WFP’s Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) strategy focuses on building the resilience and capacity of the most vulnerable people and communities. WFP works on ensuring food security during disasters and increasing the government’s ability to respond to them while reducing risk and protecting and enhancing lives and livelihoods.
Disaster risk reduction and emergency preparedness and response are central priorities for WFP in light of the profound impacts that disasters have on food-insecure and vulnerable populations worldwide. In 2010, more than 50 percent of WFP’s programmes addressed the risks of natural disasters and their impact on food security, reaching approximately 80 million people.
WFP’s role as the world’s largest humanitarian food assistance organization, combined with its deep field presence in the world’s hotspots, makes it one of the key experts in emergency preparedness and response.
Following the global Hyogo Framework, WFP’s strategy has four integrated pillars: 1) Enable the Environment, 2) Watch to Safeguard, 3) Prepare to Respond and 4) Build Resilience.
Development and enacting of national strategies linked to DRR.
Integration of DRR activities across government agencies.
Harmonization of food security information.
Common communication platforms to inform action.
WFP’s goal is to build the emergency preparedness and response capacity of the Palestinian Civil Defense (PCD) and local communities.
Establishment of an emergency web portal.
Mobile phone applications to enhance emergency assessment and data collection.
Developing an emergency telecommunication plan.
Establishing an operations room in PCD headquarters and radio base stations throughout the West Bank.
Providing community level volunteers with emergency response training.
Initiated the establishment of the emergency web-portal.
Carried out a training on mobile phone solutions for emergency assessments, for a better insight on how smartphone assessment tools can best serve the PCD.
WFP has also provided the PCD with essential equipment such as water-proof winter overalls, gloves, electric gloves and head flashlights.
WFP is closely coordinating its emergency preparedness activities with other UN agencies, such as OCHA, UNDP, UNOPS and UNRWA. This ensures coherent and gap-filling interventions, where each partners’ strengths and comparative advantages are used optimally.
Funding needs for WFP’s emergency preparedness and response programmes in 2013-2015.
WFP is building the resilience of food insecure communities by using food assistance as a springboard to support agricultural development, addressing the impacts of climate change, enabling the “Greening of Palestine” and supporting local economic activity. WFP’s Conditional Voucher Programme in the West Bank provides food vouchers through food-for-work activities that support communities and food-for-training activities that empower youth, women and farmers.
In January 2013 WFP launched the conditional voucher programmer reaching almost 10,000 people with voucher-for-work/training activities.