Annual Country Report 2018: Bhutan. Country Strategic Plan 2018-2018

Rome (Italy): World Food Programme, 2018.

English

25 p.

ELR1779

The year 2018 has been a unique one for WFP in Bhutan. While WFP considered phasing out of the country from 2019, the Royal Government of Bhutan requested WFP’s continued partnership based on assessed needs and to ensure that Bhutan graduate sustainably from least developed country to middle-income country status by 2023. Although WFP continues as a partner to the Government beyond 2018, it remains true to its promise of ending provision of in-kind food assistance. With that, 2018 marked the year of a successful handover of WFP’s school feeding programme (SFP) to the Government after more than 44 years of assistance to Bhutan. System building, policy advice, technical assistance and capacity strengthening were delivered by WFP in 2018 to enable the Government to fully manage and implement the national school feeding programme. By the end of 2018, the new Government decided to and budgeted for taking over WFP’s remaining 14,000 school children from 2019 and onwards. Moreover, through WFP’s advocacy, the Government decided to initiate a scale up of the national SFP and, in 2019, will deliver food to an additional 10,000 school children to support their cognitive and physical development. Besides delivering school meals to about 14,000 school children, WFP provided institutional and capacity strengthening in the areas of national rice fortification; transition of the national school feeding programme to a national school nutrition programme; strengthening national capacity to prepare for and respond to disasters; and monitoring and reporting. WFP expanded its role in emergency preparedness and response and initiated the development of a national earthquake/disaster preparedness road map with the Government, along with starting to set up the 72-hour post disaster need assessment approach.

Electronic ed.

ELR 1779

eng

MON-127350