NAIROBI, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) announced on Wednesday that it has secured a contribution of 37 million U.S. dollars to provide critical food and nutrition assistance to refugees in Kenya, which will enable the agency to increase rations for vulnerable refugees and resume cash transfers in the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps until December.
"Providing assistance according to levels of need ensures that the most vulnerable are prioritized based on available resources, while weaning the least vulnerable off humanitarian assistance and supporting them to become self-reliant instead," said Lauren Landis, the WFP's country director in Kenya, in a statement issued in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
The WFP said that in collaboration with the Kenyan government and the UN refugee agency, it has also started shifting from providing refugees with homogeneous support to a "needs-based" approach. This new strategy will provide food assistance based on the food security and socio-economic status of each family. Currently, 650,000 refugees supported by WFP receive the same level of food assistance.
This funding comes at a crucial time as chronic funding shortfalls have previously forced the WFP to reduce food rations to a record low of 40 percent and temporarily stop cash transfers to 580,000 refugees in Dadaab and Kakuma since May 2024.
In addition to these financial challenges, refugees in Kenya have recently suffered from the effects of the climate crisis, including droughts and floods that have devastated their already limited resources.
Kenya has seen a 60 percent increase in the population of refugees and asylum-seekers since 2019, the WFP said.
"Refugee families have had a very difficult past two months, surviving on less than half of the minimum food required for a healthy life," Landis said.
She noted that the new funding will enable the WFP to increase food rations to 60 percent of the minimum requirement and resume the "Bamba Chakula" cash transfers in Dadaab and Kakuma.
"Bamba Chakula" means "Get your food" in Swahili.
"This will provide more food to the families, uplift the local markets, and increase the availability and accessibility of diverse diets," she added.
The shift to needs-based assistance is part of the WFP's broader strategy to promote refugee self-reliance and aligns with the Kenyan government's policy to transform refugee camps into integrated settlements.
According to the WFP, this approach acknowledges that refugees can significantly contribute to Kenya's socio-economic development when given the necessary support. ■