UN DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM IN ESWATINI CELEBRATES WFP NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

Mbabane (15 October 2020) – The United Nations Development System in the Kingdom of Eswatini joins the world in congratulating the World Food Programme (WFP) for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize it was awarded on 9 October 2020 by the Norwegian Nobel Peace Committee in recognition of WFP’s efforts to combat hunger, fight the use of hunger as a weapon of war, and alleviate sufferings across the world.

“It is with pride and pleasure that we congratulate WFP for this prestigious award, which is a recognition of WFP’s and our collective humanitarian efforts to end hunger, restore hope and dignity among the needy, and serve mankind with pride and humility at a time when the world is facing so many crises from fragile economies, health pandemics, climate change, growing inequalities and conflict, to name only a few,” says the UN Resident Coordinator in Eswatini, Ms. Nathalie Ndongo-Seh. “We believe that, in line with similar recognitions of the UN Organization by the Nobel Peace Committee over the past years, this prestigious award will give the UN Development System in Eswatini impetus to increase our efforts and support to Emaswati people, in particular as we prepare our programmes for the next cycle of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2021-2025.”

In Eswatini, WFP provides technical assistance, services and coordination support for national food and nutrition security policies and programmes through approaches that enable progress on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, and HIV-sensitive actions. WFP’s General Food Assistance programme is now targeting communities with a high prevalence of food insecurity and malnutrition as a result of poor food production, drought and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

WFP Eswatini provides social safety nets for 55,000 orphans and vulnerable children under 5 years at 1,700 Neighbourhood Care Points (NCPs) in Eswatini through access to food and basic social services. Additionally, WFP works with the Government in implementing a sustainable, nutrition-sensitive, shock-responsive national school meals programme. The pilot for a Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) project started in September 2019, targeting 50 schools and 24,392 students. WFP Eswatini also collaborates with the Ministry of Health (MoH), the Ministry of Tinkhundla and Administration (MTAD), the Swaziland Network of Young Positives (SYNP+) and UN agencies to conduct integrated treatment literacy activities to empower communities through better nutrition, uptake of and adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and tuberculosis (TB) medication, and sexual and reproductive health services.

In response to the impact of COVID-19 and erratic drought conditions, WFP is implementing a crisis response through unconditional resource transfers (URT). The URT aims to provide humanitarian assistance to the COVID-19 and drought-affected populations for 11 months starting in June 2020 until March 2021 through food and cash transfers. “We are deeply humbled that the World Food Programme has been honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize, this honour is made possible due to support from our Partners ” says WFP Head of Office Cissy BYENKYA. “Many of the people we help are fleeing conflict. Hunger is both a cause and an effect of conflict. Without peace and stability, we will struggle to achieve our goal of Zero Hunger. It puts the struggle of the 690 million people who go to bed hungry at the centre of world attention and we welcome this.”