Example of the FSD - WFP integrated operation in Laos

The people of Laos, particularly those living in the rural areas (82.9% of the inhabitants), rely essentially on rice farming. However, the presence of ERW prevents their farming of large areas, limiting food sources available to them. The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that approximately 30% of the population have insuffi cient food for more than six months of the year and so experience chronic food shortages; chronic malnutrition is high, with some studies showing it as high as affecting 47% of the population. Food insecurity is particularly prevalent in ERW affected areas. Development programmes, including rice-fi eld expansion, can only be undertaken once the affected areas have been decontaminated, a slow process hampered by an insufficient national clearance capacity. In the remote areas, those also most affected by ERW, these efforts are limited by a poor road network, often impassable during the rainy season. Within the context of WFP’s programme “Food for work”, the FSD conducted an assessment mission to analyse the impact of ERW on the UN organisation’s programmes. Concrete recommendations were presented to implement its projects safely and efficiently, both in terms of emergency aid and in sustainable development in the affected regions. Using the conclusions of this assessment, the FSD established an intervention project based on the creation of a local capacity to neutralise and destroy ERW. This focuses on local communities to support the WFP’s “Food for Work” programmes for vulnerable people in Savannakhet, Khammouane, Saravan and Attapeu provinces. This local capacity is decontaminating land now since 2005, allowing local people to expand their rice-fields, build dams, irrigation systems and fl ood protection walls, and to improve the roads.

Results illustrated in the WFP annual report 2005: Download (PDF, 2.9Mo)