In Afghanistan, World Food Program Provides Food-For-Work Program

Drought and war have led to shortages of food and water in some parts of Afghanistan. The World Food Program (WFP) has been providing food to people in the village of Towhed Abad in exchange for work on a local road, thus generating positive results in both eliminating hunger and improving transportation.

According to a press release issued by the World Food Program on Tuesday, the economies of Towhed Abad and the neighboring city of Ghazni have been harmed by a widespread drought which has significantly reduced crop harvests and brought about a crisis in food and water supply for millions of people in the Central Asian nation. Conflict involving foreign troops and insurgents, along with kidnappings of foreigners, have worsened the situation.

A large portion of the one-hundred and ten tons of food the WFP has distributed in Afghanistan recently was supplied through food-for-work programs. The press release indicates that Towhed Abad had a road which was in poor condition and made it difficult to travel to the neighboring city or the local hospital. Two-hundred and seventy men were provided with sixteen tons of food in exchange for repairing an eight km (almost five miles) portion of the road. A local teacher who helped repair the road was quoted as saying that both the road and food assistance have been helpful to many people and creates hope that the situation will improve.

According to the CIA World Factbook, Afghanistan's living standard is one of the lowest in the world, and it has a life expectancy of just under forty-four years. Its unemployment rate was estimated at forty percent in 2005; eighty percent of those employed work in agriculture. Almost thirty-two million people live in Afghanistan, which is nearly as large as the state of Texas. Its climate brings cold weather during the winter, but becomes hot in the summer.

The World Food Program web site indicates that their organization provided food to nearly eighty-eight million people in seventy-eight countries around the world during 2006. Donors to the WFP include businesses, individual people, and national governments; most Western countries donate to the WFP, along with developing nations like Russia, Saudi Arabia, China, Azerbaijan, and South Africa. In addition to Afghanistan, food was distributed to people in such countries as Guatemala, Nepal, Ghana, Ethiopia, Haiti, and Cambodia. The food-for-work program has been applied in other regions as well, including the nations of Georgia and Rwanda.

Sources:

1. World Food Program, http://www.wfp.org/english/?ModuleID=137&Key=2621
2. CIA World Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/af.html
3. WFP, http://www.wfp.org/aboutwfp/facts/2006/index.asp?section=1&sub_section=5, http://www.wfp.org/aboutwfp/facts/2006/pdf/FOOD.pdf, http://www.wfp.org/appeals/Wfp_donors/index.asp?section=3&sub_section=4