The Cost of Inaction: Impacts of WFP Assistance Shortfalls on Food Security Outcomes in Somalia and Uganda
The Cost of Inaction study, conducted for WFP, analyzed the potential consequences of reductions of up to 50% in WFP assistance to beneficiary households in Somalia and to refugee households in Uganda.
Millions of Africans face hunger and malnutrition due to ongoing conflict and climate disruptions. Food systems are strained by a combination of weather shocks, civil conflicts, environmental distress, increasing food costs, and limited infrastructure and investments (WFP Somalia Country Brief 2023). The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has been working extensively in Somalia, expanding its humanitarian activities in recent years in response to the severe drought of 2020-2023. For example, in January 2023 alone, it distributed USD 45 million in cash and 7.1 MT in in-kind food assistance to 4.1 million people in the country, including vulnerable internally displaced population (IDP) and resident (non-IDP) households. The soaring demand for humanitarian assistance is straining an already underfunded WFP. WFP estimated a funding gap of USD 378 million from November 2023 to April 2024, only providing food assistance to less than half of those people most in need (WFP Emergency-Somalia website).
The Cost of Inaction study, conducted for WFP, analyzed the potential consequences of reductions of up to 50% in WFP assistance to beneficiary households in Somalia and to refugee households in Uganda, Africa’s largest refugee-host nation. By combining LEWIE simulations and econometric analysis, it shows how these cuts are likely to impact the food security outcomes of not only beneficiaries but also nonbeneficiaries who do not receive WFP assistance.
Funding Agency: United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)
Publications:
Executive Summary: The Cost of Inaction: Impacts of WFP Assistance Shortfalls on Food Security Outcomes in Somalia
