WFP, Japan sign agreement for food assistance to Cameroon, CAR.

The signing ceremony took place at the head office of the World Food Programme in Yaounde. This was on Thursday September 7, 2023. The support is worth 450 million Japanese Yen, a circa 2 billion FCFA.

The event was attended by the Ambassador of Japan to Cameroon, His Excellency Takaoka Nozomu and the Ambassador of CAR to Cameroon, Her Excellency Jeanette Marcelle Gotchanga Betizamo.

The Country Director of World Food Programme Cameroon, Wanja Kaaria and Country Director for same UN agency to CAR, Houssainou Taal, were also in attendance. 

Representatives of the Ministries of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, MINEPAT; External Relations, MINREX, and Territorial Administration, MINAT, were also present.

According to Japan’s Ambassador to Cameroon, Takaoka Nozomu, it has always been his country’s priority to partner with African countries.

He emphasised that food is very important “because ensuring the basic needs and respect of daily life is very important”.

The difficult situation surrounding Africa in general and in particular Cameroon and CAR, with “droughts, floods, climate change and food situation becoming difficult”, added to conflict, the ambassador said, necessitated the gesture from his government.  

He furthered that “we have refugees coming from nearby countries and also internally displaced people, so providing food is for nation building and peace keeping and so Japan has attached great importance to the food assistance”.

He noted that WFP is an effective and strong organisation with very much value reason “why we partnered and collaborated with them”.

“Africa is somewhat far away from Japan and we don’t have personnel to cover all the areas of Cameroon and CAR so we are very much depended on WFP for effective delivery of transportation and making sure our assistance reaches the most vulnerable people including children,” the diplomat remarked.

The assistance, he said, will also go to schools “so that children will have school lunch and that will in tend help the family”.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme Country Director to Cameroon, Wanja Kaaria, after expressing her gratitude to the Japanese government, noted that it was a large contribution which will support the organisation for the next two years to provide lifesaving support to the regions that are affected by crises.

She cited the case of Central African Republic refugees in the East Region and Nigerian refugees in the Far North Region of Cameroon.

“…this is a very much welcome donation that will go to support vulnerable populations there” Wanja said.

She emphasised that, the donation was meant to provide nutrition support to pregnant women and malnourished children but also the school feeding program.

“Last year, we provided support to about 70,000 school children in 15 schools and these donations allowed us to continue with the school feeding program and to expand the coverage of the school feeding program which helps to improve nutrition for children,” Wanja highlighted.

She said the purpose of the school feeding program is to “increase enrolment, nutrition, support to children but also for the entire community because when children go to school, that is also income transfer for families at home because they don’t have to buy a meal”.

The WFP Cameroon boss also said the program will help support government in achieving its National Development Strategy, SND 30.

Japan, it should be said, not only supports Cameroon and CAR but supports WFP globally.

The WFP Country Director to CAR, Houssainou Taal, on his part said, his country was very grateful to the Japanese government for the donation.

“In CAR now, we are trying to mobilise the resources to assist the vulnerable population which have been affected by conflict, climate change and so many challenges to government,” he said.

The contribution, it should be said, will help 4,000 school children to have a meal in schools in CAR. 

The WFP representative in CAR explained that children are likely to lose up to 15% of their intellectual capacity if they cannot eat in school.

Enter MINEPAT official 

The representative of the Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Guemaleu Guy Ronel, explained that “in terms of the overall security context, the crisis in the North West and South West regions have generated 628,000 internally displaced persons, while the Far North has 385,000 internally displaced persons”.

The figures, he said, were adding to those of refugees from neighboring Nigeria.

Guemaleu furthered that the contribution was important as “it will help to provide food assistance to people with schooling difficulties, particularly the youngest, notably about 17,000 people…it will also target refugees and internally displaced people as a result of the crises we are currently witnessing in the country”.